WASHINGTON — It’s back to business for DC blowhards.
Democrats and Republicans engaged in a furious blame game yesterday over who caused the unprecedented S&P downgrade — with politicians blaming everyone from rival parties to the rating agency itself.
The comments came just days after Standard & Poor’s blasted the political bickering that they said is hurting the nation’s status as a rock-solid investment.
“It’s a partial wakeup call. I believe this is, without question, the ‘Tea Party downgrade,’ ” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) charged on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” placing the fault squarely on conservatives who demanded massive spending cuts.
Reinforcing his comments was President Obama’s campaign guru David Axelrod, who said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Tea Party “brought us to the brink of default.”
“It was the wrong thing to do to push the country to that point, it was something that should never have happened that clearly is on the backs of those who were willing the see the country default,” Axelrod said.
But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) turned the GOP’s sights squarely on Obama, saying the president failed to take a stand during the financial crisis.
“I agree that there is dysfunction in our system, but a lot of it has to do with the failure of the president of the United States to lead,” he said on NBC.
He was backed by House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who said on “Fox News Sunday” that “Washington hasn’t gotten its fiscal house in order” by slashing spending enough.
White House officials pushed back at every turn yesterday.
Former economic adviser Larry Summers blamed S&P for making a bad call in downgrading US credit from AAA to AA-plus.
“S&P’s record has been terrible and, as we have seen this weekend, its arithmetic is worse. So there’s nothing good to say about what they’ve done,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Meanwhile, Obama announced yesterday that he is keeping his treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, a trusted adviser who has critics on the Hill.
“Secretary Geithner has let the president know that he plans to stay on in his position,” said Treasury spokeswoman Jenni LeCompte.
Geithner plans to stay through the elections. He considered leaving after Congress raised the federal debt ceiling but was persuaded to stay.