In a week when the antipathy between Republicans and Democrats is at a fever pitch, it is worth recalling the desperate events ten years ago this month when America’s center held together very well. A financial panic, the first in a century, seemed to come out of nowhere to threaten a depression even worse than that of the 1930s. The White House put its full support behind the Federal Reserve Board’s role as lender of last resort. Congressional leadership of both parties reluctantly backed the president. Two attempts were required to persuade the House of Representatives to authorize the Treasury Department’s $700…