WASHINGTON, October 17 (RIA Novosti) – The political battle that brought the United States to the brink of an historic debt default was profoundly counterproductive and took a high toll on US standing in the world, President Barack Obama said Thursday.
“Probably nothing has done more damage to America’s credibility in the world, our standing with other countries, than the spectacle that we’ve seen these past several weeks,” Obama said in a statement at the White House, streamed on the White House website and broadcast on cable television networks.
“It’s encouraged our enemies, it’s emboldened our competitors and it’s depressed our friends who look to us for steady leadership.”
Obama’s statement came hours after he signed budget legislation ending the partial, three-week government shutdown and raising the so-called debt ceiling to avert a government default. But critics say the last-minute deal only bought time until early next year, as the agreement funds the government through Jan. 15 and lifts the debt ceiling through Feb. 7.
Governments around the world, some of which invest heavily in US government security like Treasury Bonds, watched with dismay and growing nervousness over the past three weeks as the latest bout of ideology-driven wrangling over government finances played out.
In his statement, Obama took direct aim at the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party, a grouping that has become known as the “Tea Party,” charging the political tactics it claimed were needed to fortify the health of the US economy had exactly the opposite effect.
“There was no economic rationale for all of this,” Obama said. “Nothing has done more to undermine our economy these past three years than the kind of tactics that create these manufactured crises.”
