Obama's weakness is party to blame for the downgrade.

[LetTimmySmoke]

Not defending S&P's track record, but some of the negative outlook is based in the fears that what we just saw will repeat itself every time the debt ceiling comes up. And why not? McConnell threatened as much. The president could have said "We are not negotiating over the debt ceiling, since that's a commitment to pay America's bills. Any deficit reduction we do will be done independently." Boehner would have been forced to raise it, and that would have been the end of it. The threat was empty all along. Obama's engagement with the threat is what gave it teeth. And the markets know it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. partly, it is about the instablity in the government

and since he is the chief executive, yes, he is partly responsible. I hope the weekend leads to some concrete action.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[scheming daemons]

21. reply meant for OP, not you nadin

[sendero]

26. Well.

... color me freeper too. Obama is a puss or this whole thing would have never happened. No other president has had to negotiate the debt ceiling, ONLY OBAMA.

Deflect, defend and make excuses all you like, Obama's caving on anything and everything emboldened the Repugs to do what they did AND THEY GOT EVERYTHING AND WE GOT NOTHING.

Way to go Obama!

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. The market wanted a clean ceiling increase to protect from default

Congress and the President handed them a ceiling increase with austerity pinned to it, and no revenues. They know this will kill the economy. Hate the market all you like, but unlike Congress' penchant for doctors and lawyers setting economic/fiscal policy, they are economists who know a shitty deal when they see one. Do not discount their greed, but they know this was the wrong move.

Market go boom now.

[DonCoquixote]

3. the problem was

as much as the 14th should have been the end, we know Fat Tony and his superemes would have done the bidding of the gop.

[AngkorWot]

4. That's odd, because the S&P is blaming the Republicans.

Yet here you are, laying the blame on Obama. Huh. How about that.

[CatWoman]

13. welcome to DU

That stuck me as pretty odd, too.

[ibegurpard]

5. this was all the republicans

and this is coming from someone who can't stand Obama

[PufPuf23]

6. POTUS Obama is not weak.. He is a neo-liberal that has surrounded himself

with neo-liberals and apparently believes in neo-liberal economic and foreign policies.

S&P and Moody's et al should have been prosecuted several years ago so we know they are protectd enablers of a cancerous financial system.

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. ROFL. Timmy still smoking?

:smoke:

According to Harwood of CNBC, we were downgraded because S&P wanted "deeper cuts", and a more severe austerity program. But don't let that stop you. :hi:

[BNJMN]

8. Why do I come here to see the same sh!t I could be reading in Republican blogs and forums? [nt]

[Skittles]

10. because our Dem president is acting like a repuke???

[BNJMN]

23. That's why I come to a Dem site to get rehashed Repuke talking points?

Brilliant!

[Skittles]

25. they are not repuke talking points here

they are FACTS

[Skittles]

9. CORRECT

[AndyTiedye]

11. O Could Have Said That, and the Repigs Would Have Made Him Eat Those Words

Obama no longer makes strong statements like that because he knows we do not have the votes to make it happen.

[girl gone mad]

27. This time, he didn't need the votes.

All he had to do was direct his SecTreas to be prepared to take preventive actions.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Yeah, the President could have held out for a clean bill, and

as a result, no legislation, Congress dispersed to its respective airports, and S&P would have downgraded us August 4, perhaps to a lower standard of AA or below.

[ThomWV]

14. The downgrade is completely his fault.

He joined with the Republicans last winter to continue the Bush Tax Cuts, he allowed them to push the country into the debt limit crisis. Those two things pointed out the how weak the Republicans have make the country. he has done nothng to fix the problems, and dam little to lead. He is a very poor President.

[emulatorloo]

16. Preposterous. S&P put most of the blame on Republicans

Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act. Key macroeconomic assumptions in the base case scenario include trend real GDP growth of 3% and consumer price inflation near 2% annually over the decade.

[sabrina 1]

31. No they didn't. You need to read their whole report.

They wanted over 4 trillion in cuts. They are after the New Deal Programs. To get that, because this is what the Global Capitalists have been doing everywhere, they wanted Congress to agree on some tax cuts. They are angry that their 4 trillion dollar cuts did not get done. And they blame the Teaparty.

I am grateful that it didn't get done. Because such a huge amount of cuts had to really hurt the American people. Inadvertantly, the TeaParty, without meaning to, actually saved the American people, at least for a while. And they got in the way of the globalists and both Parties who were on the verge of making such a deal.

You need to read their whole report and what they have been promoting for months. They are no friends of the American people.

They also have zero credibility and should be prosecuted for THEIR role in the Financial Meltdown.

I wouldn't keep claiming they are 'blaming Republicans', the only thing they are blaming them for is something we should be happy about, failing to cut even more social programs by refusing to cut taxes. They wanted a deal. You can be sure their wealthy buddies would have made out just fine with a few tax cuts, and in return, they would have gotten the Big Prize, SS, Medicare and Medicaid.

[kentuck]

19. I think you are wrong ThomWV...

I believe if they had passed the debt limit, like always in the past, there would have been no downgrade or even talk of a downgrade. This is absolutely the result of Tea Party and the Republicans making a big deal about it and threatening not to pay our creditors.

[Tennessee Gal]

15. Republicans had no intention

of passing a clean bill raising the debt ceiling. They made that very clear.

[emulatorloo]

17. Don't confuse DU with the facts. It will ruin a perfectly good rant.

[Tennessee Gal]

20. It is getting ridiculous here.

[uponit7771]

24. Yeap, DU is no doubt getting worked .... they're just repeating M$M lies or makin shit up

[girl gone mad]

28. Rather than forcing their hand..

the President signaled from very early on that he was eager to make concessions.

[emulatorloo]

22. See: Mainstream Media Ignores S&P Attack On Republicans

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1677197&mesg_id=1677197

[JoePhilly]

29. If Obama said what you wanted, we'd default.

The GOP does not care about the default, the down grade, or the collapse of the economy.

They welcome these events if those things will (a) cost Obama the 2012 election, and (b) cut all funding to the Federal government.

They want to remove the ability of the Federal government from acting in any domestic capacity.

That is their goal.

And unless we on the left stop jerking off about how awful Obama is, the GOP will succeed.

They will get rid of Obama, and install Ryan's budget. They will add one if not 2 right wing whack jobs to the supreme court, and they will close down the EPA, FAA, DOE (both), NIH, FEMA, OSHA, and every other government effort, except the DOD.

But let's blame Obama. That's far more productive then focusing on the real enemy in this.

[Rex]

30. They handed out money to the biggest criminals in history

and then expected said criminals would 'fix' the market so people would hush up...they 'fixed' the market. Boner is the wiping boy of the Teabagger Movement.