The Correct Answer Should Have Been 100% Congress's Fault

I agree with Destiny007, both are responsible since the President is the last to sign the bill. What this poll shows is how ignorant most Americans are as to how our government works. Like a finely tuned machine, it all works best if it's working together....

Congress only appropriates the money and does the spending. The president either gives his approval or vetoes the spending. The president's vetoes can be overridden by Congress. Congress is to blame, but so is the president when he approves the spending.

It is also us the citizens of The United States. we just want to blame the president and the congress. We need to be active and let our reps know how we want them to vote. Then at the same time we don't want them to cut any programs that might effect us.

Absolutely right. And as we collectively elect and are supposed to monitor Congress, the true, correct answer is: The American Public. Any other answer is just good old-fashioned responsibility avoidance.

I will say that it is not 100% congress. The president does have veto power giving him the ability to force some degree of changes. That, of course, doesn't DO anything. It just stops or delays things from happening. The problem is that many people are simple and lazy. They want ONE person to blame that is easily removed. Sure, we can blame congress as one entity, but we can't remove them. All anyone can do is vote against their specific congressmen or senators. That leaves people with decent congressmen and senators (there are a handful that aren't bad) powerless. Then you just have the vast majority of Americans who won't even spend 10 minutes looking at the voting records of their representatives. That information is so easy to get via the internet and yet people don't even try. Democrats have had the majority in the congress for the last 2 years and have only made things worse yet people elected more of them and really think that will make a difference. Right now I see Arnold shouldering a lot of the blame for California's situation despite the fact that A. he inherited a crumbling state economy and B. 90% of the things he's proposed to cut spending have been completely rejected by the state legislature and the voters of California. When his term expires they'll just vote in another person to blame without putting one iota of blame on their state legislature.

"So what can we learn from this" This nation is doomed unless we elect a bunch of math geniuses into congressional seats really soon? *rimshot* Congress does deserve more of the blame when you stop and think about it. But at the same time, what does this say about us voters? We can point the finger all day long, but these cats were chosen by the American people. I'm sure nobody thought they would be incompetent enough to run this country into the ground, but look what happened.