Free Republic

At a town hall meeting on his campaign-style tour of the Midwest, President Obama claimed that his economic program "reversed the recession" until recovery was frustrated by events overseas. And then, Obama said, with the economy in an increasingly precarious position, the recovery suffered another blow when Republicans pressed the White House for federal spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the national debt limit, resulting in a deal Obama called a "debacle." "We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, gotten the economy moving again," Obama told a crowd in Decorah, Iowa. "But over the last six months...

"If we do not come to an agreement, we could lose our country's AAA credit rating. Not because we do not have the capacity to pay our bills. We do. But because we did not have a AAA political system to match our AAA credit rating. Make no mistake, for those who say they oppose tax increases on anyone, and lower credit rating would result potentially in a tax increase and everyone in the form of higher interest rates on their mortgages, their car loans, their credit cards, and that is inexcusable," President Obama said on Friday morning.