Romney: Obama "playing chicken" with U.S. economy

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Monday accused President Obama of "playing chicken" with the U.S. economy, and said Standard & Poor's recent warning that it may in the future lower the credit rating of U.S. debt was a reflection of the fact that Mr. Obama's presidency had been "downgraded."

Standard & Poor, a credit rating agency, reaffirmed the U.S. government's AAA credit rating on Monday, but said that due to concerns with "very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness," the agency was lowering its outlook on the long-term rating from "stable" to "negative."

Following the announcement, the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq composite experienced significant drops.

In a Monday radio interview with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, seized on the reduced rating as an opportunity to criticize the president's plan to reduce the deficit.

"Obama presidency was downgraded today," he told Hannity. "And people recognize that this president is playing chicken with the U.S. economy."

"This is a big deal, and the president continues to pooh-pooh the need to look seriously at our long-term budget," Romney continued. "The amount of debt we have is backbreaking even now. But, if the interest costs are going up, why, it could be devastating to the U.S. economy and could make job growth even more difficult."

The former CEO also touted his own experience in the business community as a contrast to the president.

"The reason I'm looking at this race is I have a 25-year career in the private sector, I know how jobs come and how they go, and I want to create more jobs for the American people and get our economy on track again," he said.

"We can't keep going on like this," Romney added. "Playing chicken with the American economy and America's future is not what we expect of a responsible president."

The White House on Monday said it welcomes any call for fiscal reform but that it expects leaders in Washington to outperform the S&P's expectations when it comes to finding a deficit reduction solution.

"The president is committed... to moving forward in a bipartisan way," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. "He believes the fact that he and Republicans agree on a target -- $4 trillion over 10 to 12 years -- is an enormously positive development."