President Barak Obama who has been painting a grim economy to Congress over the last few weeks gave an inspiring message during his address to Congress Tuesday night.

Now that the $787 billion stimulus package has passed through congress,  the president gave the message of hope.  He told his audience: “We will rebuild. We will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before”.   Obama is appealing to Americans to show their “never say die attitude”.

“The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach.  What is required now is for this country is to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.”

Throughout his speech, Obama uttered the words: accountability, responsibility and national community as the country continues to face soaring unemployment rates, job cuts, home foreclosures, credit crisis, the rising cost of health care and declining trust in the government.

The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere,” he said.

Obama’s dour words had its critics.  Former President Bill Clinton commented during an interview on “Good Morning America” that Obama’s words were too much of a downer.

During Tuesday’s speech Obama was both realist and cheerleader.

“I’m constantly trying to thread the needle between sounding alarmist but also letting the American people know the circumstances that we’re in”, he said during a February 10 interview.

On Tuesday, he told Americans: “You should also know that the money you’ve deposited in banks across the country is safe; your insurance is secure; you can rely on the continued operation of our financial system.”

After that came the realist part of his speech, telling the millions of Americans watching that:  “None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy.  But this is America. We don’t do what’s easy. We do what is necessary to move this country forward.”

The President is telling a nation facing a recession that rivals the Great Depression “not to be quitters”.