Let me finish tonight with a short statement about the situation this country faces.
We can act or not act. We can meet our responsibilities to pay the bills or we can go into default. We can be a "great" country or we can conduct ourselves as something "less" - much less - something like those countries we have long and fairly looked upon as less than serious, less than accountable before the world.
America needs to be accountable. We take on too many duties in this world to be held up to scorn, to be out there as a country that can't do what she has promised to do - make good on her financial commitments. Simply put, we can't afford to be a deadbeat.
There are politicians out there on the stump right now who say we don't have to pay our bills. They say it. Who knows what they actually "believe" or even if they've sat down and gotten themselves in touch with the reality of the situation.
But people in the leadership "do" know - John Boehner knows. So do the other leaders in the Congress. They know the facts, the risks, the consequences and they have no choice, knowing them, what they must do - how they must conduct themselves in the days ahead.
So it's one of those times - to act - to push people to "act" - and, yes, to judge those who do not.