In the last few weeks, President Obama and his administration have blamed our struggling economy and/or the downgrading of America’s credit rating on the Arab Spring, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, events in Europe, the GOP, the Tea Party, talk radio, Standard & Poor’s, the previous decade and his predecessor. Some of these excuses are familiar, predictable and a bit tiresome. But some of the excuses, like pinning blame for our fiscal crisis on protests in Tahrir Square and 130 foot waves that slammed the coast of Tohoku, shows a certain creativity.

If those responsible for America’s failures is an ever-expanding list, there is one person who escapes any responsibility, who is always fenced off from blame, who remains pure of heart, who alone rises above partisan squabbling, and whose analysis and decisions are unfailingly wise. That would be Obama. The president escapes blame despite the fact (a) his legislative agenda was implemented virtually whole during the first half of his presidency; and (b) he made a slew of promises regarding job growth, unemployment, our deficit and economic growth that have simply failed to materialize.

No matter. When Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — who in April assured us there was “no risk” the U.S. would lose its top credit rating — was asked if the Obama administration bore any blame for S&P’s decision, he answered, “Oh, absolutely not.”

Parents of teenagers will immediately recognize this cast of mind. It isn’t a particularly admirable or attractive quality to find in adolescent children. But the hope is they will, over time, learn to take responsibility for their mistakes, replace self-delusion with individual responsibility, and at least stop blaming others for their slip ups. We expect teens to outgrow their childish ways. And we should expect American treasury secretaries and presidents to do the same.