President Obama’s Address to Congress

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 our 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."

Dang, Poor Nancy Pelosi must have been exhausted after jumping up and sitting down all night.

Other precious moments:
"We can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold." Cut to Hillary Clinton in hot pink in the front row.

"...with the name of Orrin Hatch...." Cut to Orrin, looking down reading his program... Hullo....

Joe Lieberman, slow-clapping at "eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq..."

"I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war." Even John McCain gets up for applause.

"I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture." John McCain is up again. (And yes, he should have led on that issue.)
More stuff:

• Video from the NY Times.
• Transcript from the NYTimes.com.
• HuffPo's take on the applause lines and the laugh lines.
• Reaction from insta-polling, "A CBS News poll of approximately 500 people saw approval of the president rise from 62 percent before the speech to 69 percent afterward."
• Pundit reaction roundup from HuffPo.
  
• CNN calls it Obama's "Morning in America" moment.
• GOP response from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. "Dude, Bobby, hello? This is a rebuttal. BOBBY! Stop nattering on about your childhood. Seriously, WTF? Stop telling stories. Stop it. Now."
  
• "After watching Jindal," one Democratic strategist emailed, "I'd pay a lot of money to be back watching a Palin speech."
• And MSNBC host during the Jindal debacle with an editorial "Oh God."
• The Miami Herald story of Leonard Abess, the Bank CEO who took his $60 million bonus and distributed it to his employees.