Watching President Obama's speech to the nation last night (February 24, 2009) I was struck by his many lyricisms but this one stood out for me as he closed his address with an exhortation: '...this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, 'something worthy to be remembered.'”

The phrase stayed with me thoroughout the night and this morning I did some research on it. The words, now carved in stone in the area behind the Speakers Rostrum of the House of Representatives, were first uttered by Daniel Webster on June 17, 1825 in his Bunker Hill Monument speech that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, when he vividly said:

"Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered."

For the life of me I cannot see why these things cannot be done. I wonder if the man whom Emerson called, "the great cannon loaded to the lips," and who so longed for the presidency of the United States throughout his lifetime is now well-pleased.