At the White House this afternoon, President Obama attributed Standard and Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating to a lack of will in Washington to implement the necessary solutions.
After “a month of wrangling” over the debt ceiling, S&P doubted “our political system’s ability to act,” Obama explained to reporters. He insisted that “we didn’t need a rating agency to tell us the gridlock in Washington . . . has not been constructive — to say the least.”
Echoing his fellow Democrats on yesterday’s talk shows, Obama blamed “a prolonged debate, where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip” for the downgrade. “That threat . . . has now roiled the markets,” he said.
Sounding a more positive note, the president argued that “our problems are imminently solvable” and identified two solutions to the current crisis: tax reform “that will ask those who can afford it to pay their fair share” and “modest adjustments” to entitlement programs.
Listing the previous failed attempts at such reforms — the Gang of Six, the negotiations with Rep. John Boehner, etc. — Obama argued that “there are plenty of good ideas of how to achieve long-term deficit reduction that doesn’t hamper economic growth right now.”
The problem wasn’t a lack of ideas, but a lack of will. There was too much “insistence on drawing lines in the sand” — a “refusal to put what’s best for the country ahead of self-interest, or party, or ideology.”
At the same time, Obama acknowledged that most Americans remained concerned about the economy. He offered two suggestions for spurring economic growth: extending the payroll tax cut “as soon as possible” and extending unemployment-insurance benefits. Failing to do so could mean “1 million fewer jobs and one-half percent less growth,” he warned.
“These aren’t Democratic proposals,” Obama argued. “These aren’t big-government proposals.” Instead, they were “all ideas that traditionally Republicans have agreed to.”
In his closing remarks, the president paused to salute the 30 U.S. soldiers who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan over the weekend.
Praising their service, the president concluded by saying that Americans — including, presumably politicians — needed to maintain an America “that reflects their courage, their commitment, and their sense of common purpose.”
So, let me get this straight...
Timmy Geithner, tax cheat and IMF corrupt beaurocrat extraordinaire, practically guarantees that there is no way that we will have our rating downgraded.
Yet when Egan-Jones and S&P actually do what Obama's appointed Treasury Secretary claimed would not happen, then they are wrong.
Hmmmm.
Jive. Turkey. In. Chief.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama believes the discussion and debate were the problem; he fails to grasp the spending is the problem.
Words fail me here.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm with you. The hypocrisy of the left and the willful blindess of the American people is overwhelming. I must assume Obama doesn't believe he drew a line in the sand when he referred to Republicans as hostage-takers and his team members followed his lead with terrorists, guns to our heads, etc. And I must assume, based on the polling data, that most Americans agree with him.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGeez this guy is a disaster. I know many thought he would be bad, but this bad? The least he could do is fire Geithner.
I don't think we hit bottom until Obama loses re-election or pulls an LBJ
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe market was dropping as he spoke and has gone of a cliff since then. They were looking for leadership and all they got was more Obama. The economy and market will recover but they will do so in spite of Obama, not because of him.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBest
Pete
Another Al Gore, "The time for debate is over". Delusional idiot.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf we do not extend unemployment benefits, we'll have MORE people unemployed?
Unemployment benefits extend the period of unemployment, and in no way lead to job creation. The president obviously doesn't know anyone who's ever received unemployment benefits.
Most recipients wait until the benefit is near expired to start looking for work, and during the duration of the benefit, remain resistant to accepting employment that pays less than the previous job.
The Tea Party should oppose such an extension, and quote the 1 million figure as the MINIMUM # of people who will REMAIN unemployed instead of working.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"The problem wasn’t a lack of ideas, but a lack of will. There was too much “insistence on drawing lines in the sand” — a “refusal to put what’s best for the country ahead of self-interest, or party, or ideology.”
Or how about too many rounds of golf and too many White House parties?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse“These aren’t Democratic proposals,” Obama argued. “These aren’t big-government proposals.” Instead, they were “all ideas that traditionally Republicans have agreed to.”
So Republicans traditionally agree to tax hikes? Were the 2 partys always working together just enough to make sure that the economy didn't suffer? Having an opposition party in the 3 branches of government now causes credit downgrades? Did the founding fathers envision 1 political party to rule the legislative and executive branch?
Sounds like Obama is saying that debate causes economic hardship. If only the U.S. had no debate and everyone got along.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI guess if everything Obama says is true (highly doubtful of course), it might be a great time for him to put his grand bargain down on paper and try to sell it to the Congress and the American people, no? Or maybe the Democratic Senate could PROPOSE a budget for this year that contains all the swell ideas that Obama has been keeping secret for the past several weeks?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe have just witnessed a moment economists will talk about for a very long time: As the Second Great World Depression was making its formal entry, the President of the United States went on television and argued for . . . tax increases.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd the president continues to live within his own personal Reality Distortion Field, featuring great big blinking banners that read: "Everything would be great if everyone would just shut up and do what I want."
The man has nothing useful to contribute to this conversation at all.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama, of course, does not "wrangle" and has no responsiblity for the fact that "wrangling" took place.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Mistakes were made" and "wrangling occurred"...peas in a pod.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI was talking to a liberal friend of mine this morning about the debt ceiling deal and the subsequent S&P downgrade. She, of course, accepts the party line that George Bush, Republicans and evil Tea Partiers/terrorists are to blame. (To be fair, she doesn't really believe Tea Partiers are terrorists, but she does think all of them are stupid and most of them are racists.) My friend is a loyal servant of the Democratic Party, so I wasn't surprised at her unquestioning allegiance to its point of view, however, I couldn't resist taking a small jab at her. I asked if she thought it was "intransigent" of the President to request an increase in the debt ceiling, but refuse to accept anything less than the mega increase he demanded? After just a short hesitation she said, "that's not what happened." This is why debate is futile. Liberal reality is whatever liberals want (or need) it to be.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse“there are plenty of good ideas of how to achieve long-term deficit reduction that doesn’t hamper economic growth right now.”
Wait--wasn't that the message that it took so much "wrangling" and "insistence" to get him to understand?
You know you've won when your opponent pretends he invented your talking points.
BTW, was it "imminently" or "eminently" solvable?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseeminently if 'easily' or 'readily' was meant, imminently if 'very soon' was meant.
He had nothing to say, knows it, and merely tried to sound reasonable, open to all the wonderful ideas out there. When you cite wrangling and gridlock and then highlight your own openness to compromise, it is hoped the audience will exclude Obama as one of the gridlocking wranglers. He was ready to deal, you see, but these other guys, well... see what 'm up against, America?
It won't work.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMust have been "eminently." Congress has a few more weeks away.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCream of Nothing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFunny thing, back when we had a Republican president and a Democrat congress, gridlock was a feature, not a bug.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse