Declaring himself frustrated with political fighting in Congress, President Barack Obama on Thursday blamed some of the nation's continuing economic troubles on government inaction and urged Americans to tell their elected representatives in Washington to pass bills that will create jobs. In an energetic speech to workers at a Holland, Michigan, hybrid car battery plant helped by government stimulus funds, Obama said the U.S. economy and American workers are capable of being the best in the world, but were being held back by political stalemate in Congress. "There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong with our politics," Obama declared to applause. Last week's first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's "could have been entirely avoided if there had been a willingness to compromise in Congress," the president said, adding: "It didn't happen because we didn't have the capacity to pay our bills. It happened because Washington doesn't have the capacity to come together and get things done." "You hear it my voice. I'm frustrated," Obama said, referring to what he called the "worst kind of partisanship" and the "worst kind of gridlock" in Congress. Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/11/obama.economy/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
