President Obama Spins Current Crisis, Speaks of "Opportunity"

President Barack Obama, perhaps showing more enthusiasm than he actually feels, is calling the current economic crisis an "opportunity" for the nation and, in the process, defended the costly agenda that he’s put forth. As the unemployment rate climbed to 8.1%, the highest level in 25 years, and the stock market dove to 1997 levels, there has generally been nothing more than gloom and doom from the media outlets and the nation at large. Obama, addressing the nation, has taken the opportunity to spell out what his administration has done thus far to combat these problems and to indicate that better times are ahead.

Said Obama, "We've experienced great trials before. And with every test, each generation has found the capacity to not only endure, but to prosper — to discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis. That is what we can and must do today. And I am absolutely confident that is what we will do." Obama also has taken the opportunity to reference history, noting that the country rebuilt itself after the Civil War and the Great Depression, and to blast the accounting tricks that Wall Street has used to contribute to the current mess.

Speaking on a more direct note to Americans, he also offered the reasonable, but basic, advice on how to weather the storm. Said Obama, "What I don't think people should do is suddenly stuff money in their mattresses and pull back completely from spending. I don't think that people should be fearful about our future. I don't think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions because the overwhelming majority of them actually have managed things reasonably well."