Posted on 04/27/2013 10:13:28 AM PDT by Starman417
It could have been a powerful tool. Obama blew it and blew it big. The real answer was simple.
The idea of the sequester came from the White House:
"In 2011, President Obama proposed the devastating sequestration cuts and stood by them. Now the Democrats continue saying Washington doesn’t have a spending problem, showing just out of touch the Democrats are with the American people. House Republicans have passed two bills that provide common-sense solutions that would reduce spending and preserve and strengthen our safety net for future generations. Instead of admitting we have a problem, Obama and the Democrats would rather find more tax increases. Our nation’s problem is spending and it’s time the president realizes that."
It was designed to cause maximum pain to the public:
The Washington Examiner reported Monday, “it is in the political interest of a president to inflict maximum pain on the American people.”“Now facing the consequences” of the automatic spending cuts his administration's sequester cuts will inflict upon Americans – and frustrated by Republican successes in blocking his effort to raise taxes and pass gun-control measures – The Washington Post reported Sunday that Obama is now “focused” on winning back control of the House to “forward” his agenda, “which he and his advisers believe will be crucial to the outcome of his second term and to his legacy as president.”
The worst case scenario for Washington was for a sequester to occur and no one to give a damn:
Three out of 4 Americans say they aren't following the spending cuts issue very closely, according to a Pew Research Center poll released this week. It's a significant drop from the nearly 4 in 10 who in December said they were closely following the fiscal-cliff debate.Public data from Google's search engine shows that at its peak in December, the search term "fiscal cliff" was about 10 times as popular as "sequestration" has been in recent days. Even "debt ceiling," not a huge thriller for the web-surfing crowd, maxed out in July 2011 at about three times the searches the sequester is now getting.
"We're now approaching the next alleged deadline of doom. And voters, having been told previously that the world might end, found it did not in the past and are becoming more skeptical that it will in the future," said Peter Brown of the nonpartisan Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Oh sure, some were put off with the termination of the White House tours, but that was about it.
Thing is, there was a way that this sequester could have been designed to maximize the effect: design it to inconvenience Congress. Congress doesn't care about White House tours. There's a whole list of things Congress really doesn't care about here. What does Congress care about?
Itself.
(excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
I can’t believe that Barry’s toads in the state controlled “media” are still trying to blame the sequester on the Republicans and the low information types are believing them. What a joke.
Obama’s big Sequester Panic went over like a Peter Brady Hero party.
Well known that Brokeback Obama will blow anything. Just ask Reggie...
Zero’s sequester play with the FAA was “jumping the shark” - even some low information voters recognized that inflicting pain for political gain is unacceptable and his presidency will never recover.
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