Republicans and Democrats were quick to point fingers at one another after the United States' credit rating suffered its first-ever downgrade, a blow to the nation's delicate economic recovery.

The quarrel comes on the heels of Standard & Poor's decision to knock the U.S.'s top-shelf AAA rating down one notch to AA-plus after markets closed on Friday. The downgrade came four days after U.S. lawmakers agreed on a plan to reduce the nation's debt by more than $2 trillion.

In a statement, the agency cited "difficulties in bridging the gulf between political parties" as a major reason for the demotion. But Republicans and Democrats didn't hesitate to use S&P's report to attack one another.

House Speaker John Boehner pinned the downgrade on the Democratic Party, suggesting that it hasn't directly addressed the nation's debt problem.

"It is my hope this wake-up call will convince Washington Democrats that they can no longer afford to tinker around the edges of our long-term debt problem," Boehner said in a statement.

On the other side, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid avoided calling out the Republicans by name. Instead, he said that the credit downgrade proved the importance of the Democratic Party's approach to fiscal policy -- a mix of raising taxes and budget cuts.

S&P said it isn't confident that U.S. lawmakers can turn their recent debt-ceiling agreement into "a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government's debt dynamics anytime soon."

Political fodder

Early reaction from the White House on Saturday didn't refer to the downgrade directly. Instead, a prepared statement indicated that President Barack Obama thinks Washington "must do better" in tackling the nation's deficit.

Despite the careful response, sources in the Treasury Department told The Associated Press that the Obama administration was clearly angered by S&P's downgrade decision.

Administration sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told AP that S&P's credit rating analysis was based on flawed calculations.

"A judgment flawed by a $2 trillion error speaks for itself," the Treasury said in a statement.

But S&P's decision has already been used as fuel by potential contenders in the U.S. 2012 presidential race.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a member of the so-called Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, immediately called on Obama to submit a plan to balance the U.S. budget, not just reduce deficits.

Meanwhile, Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said the credit downgrade was the "latest casualty" in Obama's failed economic leadership.

Lack of leadership and partisan bickering should foot at least part of the blame for the U.S. credit downgrade and the resulting financial jitters, said Queens University political science professor Grant Amyot.

"There's been a lack of political will to put through the changes needed to address the deficit problem," Amyot told CTV News Channel on Saturday.

"This is very different from European countries like Greece whose economies are just too weak to bear the burden of debt that they've assumed," he said.

While the downgrade has added to U.S. economic tension, Amyot said it might be the jolt that lawmakers need to compromise and make decisions more efficiently.

Downgrade fallout

The downgrade, which S&P has been warning the U.S. about since April, arrived just after the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the country had added 117,000 jobs in July.

Any optimism from the announcement was eclipsed by S&P's credit report, which shook a nation that's been struggling to recover from financial turmoil since 2008.

Investors worldwide are already showing signs that they're hesitant to trade with the vulnerable U.S. greenback. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 699 points this week, the most since the height of the financial crisis in October 2008.

Meanwhile, foreign holders of U.S. debt are calling upon the hyper-partisan nation to solve their financial woes. China demanded Saturday that America tighten its belt and confront its "addiction to debts" in a statement carried by the nation's state-run news agency.

China currently owns $1.2 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt, the largest stake of any central bank.

But some financial research groups say that the reaction to the U.S. downgrade must be carefully measured.

In a report released Friday, Capital Economics said that that U.S. credit downgrade will shock global markets but isn't a doomsday scenario.

The group predicts that any spike in Treasury yields or fall in the dollar should be short-lived.

"Once the dust settles, attention will turn back to the economic fundamentals, which are certainly consistent with low Treasury yields," Capital Economics said in the report.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard shares the opinion that investors shouldn't make hasty decisions in the wake of the U.S. downgrade.

In a Saturday news conference, Gillard emphasized that the U.S. has only been downgraded by one credit rating agency. The nation still retains its AAA rating with agencies like Moody's and Fitch.

"I think people just need to look at all the facts," she told reporters.

With files from The Associated Press