WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said today the United States will overcome war, recession and double-digit unemployment.

Challenges will be met, better days are ahead and the nation's leaders will unite for the common good despite sometimes sharp political disagreements, which are the hallmark of a vibrant democracy, McConnell said in the GOP's weekly radio and Internet address.

"The new year always brings with it renewed hope and a spirit of optimism — qualities that have exemplified our nation and its people from the very start," said McConnell, R-Ky.

He drew a historical parallel, citing the colonial army of 230 years ago winning a great military victory amid the exhaustion of a war in which the colonists were facing impossible odds against the British.

"Powerful forces may be aligned against us ... but when the challenges are greatest, Americans always join ranks," the senator said.