You forget that Obama is now politically invested in making the effects of the sequester seem as dire as possible. When Clinton and Gingrich couldn't agree on the budget and the government "shut down" I was camping in Joshua Tree. The park "shut down" in the sense that the rangers did not allow any more campers to enter the park. They did not require those of us already there to leave. Therefore, they saved not a single dime by "shutting down" the park. They just irritated some folks who had planned to go camping.
I call it the Christmas Tree Effect. When we peons dare suggest that the federal government spend a bit less, it responds by preserving those parts of government that we couldn't care less about and pretending to harm those more visible things that we do care about.
You forget that Obama is now politically invested in making the effects of the sequester seem as dire as possible.
Obama is painted into a corner here. If this thing happens, he owns it. He is the leader. He is the one that is supposed to work with the other side. He has had none of it and everybody knows it. Meanwhile, if nothing bad happens he has even MORE egg on his face after all his dire warnings.
Either way, I really hope the R’s don’t cave and this thing happens. Irritating thing is that this “dire” scenario involves money that is not even a drop in the bucket to helping solve the problem. Imagine the impact of something that cut enough to actually help.