Obama seeks to reassure faith in US credit

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eager to calm a nervous nation, President Barack Obama today dismissed an unprecedented downgrade in the nation's credit rating, insisting investors will stand by the United States even as stock markets plunged. Obama said Washington can fix its ills by showing more political will.

"Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America," Obama said. "No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country."

Investors did funnel money today into Treasurys, a sign of confidence in the United States as a safe long-term investment even after Standard & Poor's had dropped the U.S. credit rating down a notch. But the broader story was worrisome: stock markets kept tumbling over concerns about the weakening U.S. economy and the debt crisis in Europe.

For Obama, a president seeking a second term from voters desperate for better times, the pressure for results is intense.

He is the first president to have a credit downgrade come on his watch. And whether blaming him is fair or not — he actually pushed for the type of deal that might have prevented a downgrade — presidents are always accountable.