State of the Union: We are not quitters

I didn't see President Obama's address to Congress tonight, and I'm sorry I missed it. Here is the White House link to the text of his remarks. Some excerpts that draw on the optimism of the American spirit:

But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this:

We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

TK: Obama jumps in and out of other topics during his speech - the recession, debt-burdened governments and individuals, the looming need for sacrifice, ("that day of reckoning") the stimulus package, banking and housing issues. He ends with a heart-warming story:

And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."

We are not quitters.

These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.

Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us.

TK: If President Obama can do this one thing - bring this country out of a deepening recession - that will surely be toil enough and cement a lasting legacy. Let him do that one thing and all Americans will be satisfied and give him more political capital to embark on further change in his second term. Will Obama's well crafted words be rewarded with confidence? Yes, if he means what he says by putting forward a budget that bends to reality by acknowledging the need to reign in massive federal budget deficits. Being an optimist hasn't been too rewarding of late. As George Will said, "The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised."

As Wall Street points to another lower open Wednesday, hope is audacious indeed for recession battered Americans.