Panics come and go

From the Wall Street Journal, a perspective on panics, of which we have had many:

We are now in the midst of a major financial panic. This is not a unique occurrence in American history. Indeed, we've had one roughly every 20 years: in 1819, 1836, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1907, 1929, 1987 and now 2008. Many of these marked the beginning of an extended period of economic depression.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122360636585322023.html

My question: Does this mean that we will have to contend with an unpopular depression as well as an unpopular war? Or, should we end the war and spend all of our efforts on being depressed?