Senator Obama's explanation is the best one I've heard. He convinced me that "this is not just a Wall Street crisis, it's an American crisis. And it's the American economy that needs this rescue plan."
After laying out just what is at stake, Senator Obama gave a realistic assessment of the difficulties ahead and expressed his confidence that we, the American people, are up to the task of setting things right. He said:
I do not think this is going to be easy. It's not going to come without costs. We are all going to need to sacrifice. We're all going to need to pull our weight, because now, more than ever, we are all in this together. That's part of what this crisis has taught us.
But in the end of the day, there's no real separation between Wall Street and Main Street. There's only the road we're traveling on as Americans. And we will rise or fall on that journey as one nation and as one people.
I know that many Americans are feeling anxiety right now about their jobs, about their homes, about their life savings. But I also know this -- that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis, that we are always have.
During the great financial crisis of the last century, in his first fireside chat, FDR told his fellow Americans that: "There is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people themselves." Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. Let us unite in banishing fear. Together we cannot fail. We cannot fail -- not now, not tomorrow, not next year.
This is a nation that's faced down war and depression, great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet up these challenges -- not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans -- with resolve and within confidence, with that fundamental belief that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, it's written by us. That's who we are and that's the country I know we can be right now.
