It's Obama's Downgrade

S&P; lowered the President's re-election prospects along with our debt rating

Larry Downing / Reuters

Barack Obama's life was so much simpler in 2009. Back then, he had refined the cold act of blaming others for the bad economy into an art form. Deficits? Blame Bush's tax cuts. Spending? Blame the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. No business investment? Blame Wall Street. To Republicans, the rhetoric of blame had all the charm of a chainsaw on stainless steel. From Democrats it drew applause.

Two years on, the act was already wearing thin. But when Standard & Poor's downgraded U.S. debt, the politics of blame came full circle. Coupled with an unemployment rate stuck at 9%, the...

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