A Marvelous Line that is not a Conservative position!

Conservative leaders have one thing in common that you may see in many public debates i.e. small government. In the literal sense, Conservatives dislike the government's far-reaching arms; they don't want government to tell you what to do, how to do it and when to do it. This is why Conservatives screamed every time the US first lady, Michele Obama, goes on TV and promotes her program to encourage children to eat health food etc. However, the standing ovation that voters' in South Carolina gave Newt Gingrich over his argument that children should be encouraged to work as janitors, cleaners, librarians, etc., confused me greatly because this is government reaching further into the lives of American families.
Telling a child to work for money because he or she needs the money is not a government's responsibility. It sounds good simply because Conservatives believe that the Democrat Party had been for many years advocating a "welfare state" where their lives depend on government hand outs. He argued that growing up with a habit to work and the joy of accomplishing something is the key to welfare reform, but the audience obviously didn't know that this is his "sometimes leaning left" view of what government should do. This is the candidate that once said that he agreed with Liberals like Pelosi that Climate Change ought to be addressed and later confessed it was one of the dumbest things he'd done. If his administration thinks that children should work to end money, how can we define "child-labor" then? and how is that so different from the Obama administration advocating for healthy eating habit? Fact is, it is a good idea only if parents and children themselves decided to do, not government.
The second part of his answer to the question which is posted above will hurt him if facing President Barrack Obama in the national debate. Singling out a group of people - black Americans - as disproportionately on welfare because of government influence and lack of will to work, implies many things. It may sound reasonable in the eyes of the Conservatives - in a GOP primary - but race and class have been the biggest tools of the Democrat party. Yes, it is political correctness and it is not good to avoid real issues like this, but how is so-called "straight-talking"  beneficial to the GOP party in a country mired and scarred by centuries of racial division and ethnic discrimination? Perception plays a tremendous role when it comes to choosing leaders and even if the argument Gingrich puts forward makes sense to many, it is equally damaging to the public image of the Republican party.