There absolutely are government jobs that are super-cool, Navy SEAL for example. It’s not the inherent government-ness that makes these other jobs un-cool, it’s something else
The point of the article is questioning if its possible to have government jobs that are attainable by the everyman.
1) that they endured the training, unimaginably impressive
2) special forces military, always cool
The only special thing about a Google engineer is that they get paid well and have a probably nice work environment. Which actually is nothing special.
Most people would admire a Navy SEAL, be glad that they do their job but never ever want to be one, except for 5 minutes in their imagination. Almost no-one admires a Google engineer but most people would probably want to be one or at least have their working compensation/environment.