The Pragmatic Alternative is . . .

. . . President Barack Obama.

Many have commented on it by now, but the point that most resonated with us here at the PA was this one:

" The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end."

Obama continued: "And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good."

Obama also reminded us of the eternal verities, of the age of wisdom:

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship. . . ."

Few Americans today, with money tight and markets uncertain, with our world in seismic spasm, and our steps tentative in response, can deny the need to adopt as pragmatic an approach as possible to the many challenges we face, both at home and abroad; as a nation one among many, and also as the nation which first and still holds these truths to be self-evident: "that all are created equal . . . [and] are endowed by their Creator with . . . unalienable rights . . . Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

And the honor of the Pursuit of Responsibility.

Here's to you, President Obama.

Here's to all of us, working together.

And:

"Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Amen.