President Obama took to the mic this afternoon to address the dreaded S&P downgrade.
"On Friday, we learned that the United States received a downgrade by one of the credit rating agencies — not so much because they doubt our ability to pay our debt if we make good decisions, but because after witnessing a month of wrangling over raising the debt ceiling, they doubted our political system’s ability to act."
He dismissed S&P decision to drop the country’s credit rating down a notch to AA and blamed the downgrade on political gridlock in Washington.
"Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America," Obama said in his press conference. "No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country."
Anyone else catch a whiff of Obama's parenting vibe? He basically gave a dad-speech to Americans, comforting us the same way one would when a kid didn’t make the cut for varsity. ("You'll always be the star point guard in my eyes.")
Despite the downgrade, investors put money into Treasurys today, a sign of confidence in the United States as a safe investment. Stock markets remained volatile amid fears over the weakening U.S. economy and the debt crisis in Europe. The Dow Jones tanked (again) to its worst drop since December 2008.
The downgrade has already become a major talking point on the 2012 campaign trail.