robert bentley delivers his state of the state message appeared at 11:00 p.m., "washington post"on' writer. >> thtarp has been a success. remarks came at the congressional tarp oversight panel public hearing which looked at the overall impact of the tarp program. this portion of that hearing is about 45 minutes. >> there is no question that our economy faces real challenges. let's take a moment at the start of today's hearing to imagine that those challenges could be far worse. they were far worse. let's imagine that the s&p 500, which has risen by nearly 20% last year, had instead fallen by 30% in the last month. let's imagine that our economy, which has added over a million jobs in the last year, had instead lost that many jobs in just two months. let's imagine that america's oldest and most highly regarded financial institutions were beginning to topple literally like dominoes. i think it is fair to describe this scenario as a dire. that is precisely the scenario that faced economy in late 2008, around the time that congress passed tarp into law. today, the panic of 2008 is a slowly fad

are gathered to hear the state of the state address by his excellency, the governor of alabama, robert bentley. [applause] i present to the governor. [applause] >> good to see you. lieutenant governor, speaker, president pro tem, distinguished guests, my fellow public servants and my fellow alabama a great privilege that i join you hear in this chamber to mark another milestone in our state's history. i am humbled tonight to be addressing this joint session as your governor. as i deliver my first stage of the state address, i do so with humility as a public servant, one who has been called to a great task. i thank you for sharing this moment with me tonight. as public servants, we are called to put others ahead of ourselves. i do not think you will find anyone with a bigger hearts and desire to serve others ban your first lady and my sweet wife, diane. [applause] i would also like to thank members of my cabinet who are here with me tonight. thank you for serving and joining me in meeting the challenges that lie ahead. chief justice, distinguished members of the alabama supreme court, thank you