Artful Dodger:

> Yeah, he must mean that he's the FIRST president in US history to have the country's debt credit rating DOWNGRADED!

Just to clarify, the credit rating of the United States was not downgraded. There was fear that it would be, but the rating still remains at AAA. To date the only agency to downgrade the credit rating is some rather obscure bond rating agency in China, and they did that over six months ago.

The big jump in the debt during the Obama administration is due in great part to the stupid bailouts. I think Obama was very foolish in agreeing to take on a policy that was created by the Bush administration. Obama should have just let the banks collapse and drown in their own incompetence. Instead he gave away almost 1.5 trillion. I am sure that in reality they gave away a lot more and they are not telling the public the whole story. The bailouts showed that when push comes to shove, the Republicans and Democrats are equally whorish in selling out to big corporations.

Well, Obama did two things that really tarnished his image. Healthcare reform is well-intentioned and giving healthcare to people who don't have is never a bad thing. "Obamacare" as they call it is not the bad part (in spite of the protestations of Republicans).

The first really bad part is the bailoutsfor banks and car makers. This is in par with the Bush administration selling out to Big Oil and Saudi Arabian interests.

The second bad part is the bombing of Lybia and interfering in what was a civil war. Obama should never have sent soldiers to a mess created by France and the UK. Now the Nato axis is commited to a war. Well, an undeclared war because even that the Nato axis has no courage to admit.

President Obama should have stayed away from bailouts and bombings. He wasted money that would have been better spent on reducing the deficit. If he can't turn around the fiscal deficit problem, he will lose the next election.

Übergeek 바둑이: you are wrong.....the USA credit rating was down graded to a double A+....it is no longer AAA

Übergeek 바둑이: We've never had a downgrade before. Now we do. Wallstreet reacted once again.

Obamacare is bad. It's impossible to fund and it's a job killer. The more government does, the less effective it is.

Übergeek 바둑이: BTW, S&P isn't and obscure organization. And you're wrong about the downgrade. I've been listening all morning to the news and every expert talking head says the same thing: The US has been downgraded. period.