The Obama Downgrade

President Obama boomed on the 2008 campaign trail that “Change doesn’t come from Washington, change comes to Washington.” President Obama foreshadowed spectacular change. Last Friday, that change came in the form of unprecedented poor economic news. For the first time in the nation’s history, the US bond rating was downgraded from AAA to AA+.

No one should be surprised at the change President Obama brought to Washington. President Obama followed the traditional Democrat approach of increasing spending, increasing government handouts and increasing taxes. When government spending was recognized as reaching a crescendo, President Obama upped the ante by handing out hundreds of billions in the form of stimulus, bailouts and overreaching government programs.

Eventually lenders and analysts decided that Obama’s uber-spending was breaking the bank. The US Government was addicted to debt. Despite signals that spending needed to be cut and our national debt reduced, Obama refused and this unfortunate precedence of downgrading occurred. Future downgrades are possible.

President Obama's failure to provide the proper leadership during the debt ceiling debate cannot be undone. The failure of the Democratic Senate to produce a budget for over 2 ½ years is a disgrace that cannot be undone. But there is a chance to provide true leadership in this time of need by following Republican leadership. While some Democrats including Sen. Harry Reid would call for increased taxes and spending, the President must look to Speaker John Boehner, Congressman Eric Cantor, and Congressman Dave Camp in their attempts to cut spending and cut taxes. America cannot afford to downgrade deeper.

Mr. President, you have brought change to Washington for the worse. Let conservative economic principles bring positive change to Washington in the future. That’s change that you should bring to Washington that we can all believe in.