100 years ago when I was in College my Economics Professor said. Deficit government spending is not a problem at all .. "As long as the debt is held internal" IE war bonds, treasury notes. You see the country then owes money to itself .. One of the things he rambled over and over is when the debt is controlled by foreign sources it is a major problem for they then control the value of your currency through lending or through calling a debt due. Obama, inherited a crisis, there was no choice but to spend and borrow or witness the total collapse of the financial segment. It was created through greed and through corporate mismanagement and a naive thought that bank could regulate themselves. Two expensive wars and several national disasters help fuel this debt. It is complex and will be more than lets stop spending to fix it. No matter who is control, stop the spending and watch the unemployment number go to 14%+ . Continue to borrow and your economy is owned by a foreign government. Very hard decisions that anyone in office is going to face.