The options are more taxes or cut spending to make s&P happy.
I chose cut spending.
The entire planet would like nothing better than for the US to take or current debt x 10.
They don’t have to repay it.
I think S&P is signaling it wants to see new taxes in the mix. It states early in the report that it is indifferent to the proportion of taxes and spending cuts, but the insinuation is there. And besides, even being evenhanded about it plays into Obama's hands since the problem is clearly spending, not revenues. Revenues have remained fairly constant as a percentage of GDP but spending has continually grown. Remaining neutral to this fact tilts things in his favor.