Dick Durbin: “if you study the sweep of history in the United States and the history of the Presidency, you understand that at times…”

“if you study the sweep of history in the United States and the history of the Presidency, you understand that at times of crisis the President has an opportunity to rally the American people, to summon them to a higher calling and a greater commitment than they might otherwise reach. Time and again, each President faced with a national challenge has tried his best to do just that. In this situation, after 9/11, President Bush came to us and summoned the American people to be unified. It was demonstrated in the Senate with a bipartisan resolution supporting our effort in the war on terrorism, an overwhelming vote supporting the President. He summoned us to humility. Many of us joined with the President at the National Cathedral in a day of prayer to recall just what had happened to so many innocent people and to once again remind ourselves of our dependence on our values and our principles and on God Himself. He also summoned us to courage and the courage that America has to display every day in confronting the war on terrorism. President Bush also has summoned us to sacrifice. But he has not summoned all of us to sacrifice. He has summoned the men and women in uniform to sacrifice because they literally put their lives on the line every single day in this war on terrorism, in the invasion of Iraq and in peacekeeping afterwards.”