Obama: Shutdown Encouraged U.S. Foes, Depressed Friends

@AFP
Obama: Shutdown Encouraged U.S. Foes, Depressed Friends

Washington (AFP) – U.S. President Barack Obama warned Thursday that America’s political dysfunction had encouraged its enemies and depressed its friends, and said the crisis had left “no winners” in Washington.

Obama called on warring politicians to come together to pass a long term budget and to give up the “brinksmanship” that threatens the economy and squandered the trust of the American people.

The president spoke less than 11 hours after signing legislation that ended a 16-day government shutdown and a showdown over raising his government’s borrowing authority.

The bill brought a temporary end to a stand-off that had threatened to pitch the U.S. economy into a historic default.

Obama urged Congress, specifically Republicans in the House of Representatives, to now come together to pass stalled legislation on agriculture and on reforming America’s immigration system.

“There’s been a lot of discussion lately of the politics of this shutdown,” Obama told an audience of returned executive branch workers in the State Dining Room of the White House.

“Let’s be clear. There are no winners here. These last few weeks have inflicted completely unnecessary damage on our economy,” Obama said.

“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.

“It’s encouraged our enemies, it’s emboldened our competitors and depressed our friends who look to us for steady leadership.”

AFP Photo/Saul Loeb

This post will be updated.

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

American History Proves We Can Still Save Democracy From Trumpism

The Lincoln Memorial

Have you ever thought about the role guilt has played in our national life? It’s not omnipresent, it’s certainly not felt by everyone, most especially those sinned against, but I would say guilt rivals pride as the thing that has most motivated us. Think about it for a moment. The founding of this country wasn’t an immaculate birth – for one thing, there wasn’t a Founding Mother among all those long-heralded Founding Fathers, and one of the two greatest mistakes they made the day they came to an agreement on our founding document was what they left out. They didn’t award women full citizenship, and they failed to deal in any way with the sin of slavery.

Keep reading...Show less
How Fox Props Up The House Republicans' Impeachment Farce

Sean Hannity

Fox News propagandists are still eagerly shoveling Rep. James Comer’s (R-KY) slop to their viewers, nearly one year into the House Oversight Committee chair’s shambolic campaign to damage President Joe Biden’s political standing by focusing on his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}