WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama for the first time has allowed for the possibility that the U.S. may default on its financial obligations.
At a hastily arranged White House appearance on Friday, Obama said: "If we default, then we're going to have to make adjustments."
But minutes later, the president said he remained confident that the debt limit will be extended.
Said Obama: "We will not default. I am confident of that."
Up until now, the president had never wavered from expressing confidence that the bipartisan leadership in Congress would not fail to meet an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling and keep the country from entering a potentially calamitous, first-ever default.
