In the Great Sequestration Debate, here’s what we know: (a) The president has paternity of an idea he now characterizes as a brutal and senseless assault on America. (b) The president and his then-chief of staff, Jack Lew, misled the public about their role in giving birth to the sequester idea. (c) House Republicans have twice passed legislation to avoid the sequester cuts with carefully targeted ones, but Senate Democrats refused to act. (d) Mr. Obama has brushed off a Republican plan to give him flexibility to allocate the $85 billion in spending cuts, which makes no sense if the president wants to replace reckless cuts with responsible ones.
Whatever one thinks about the merits of cutting $85 billion out of an almost $3.6 trillion budget, the effort to portray the cuts as ushering in days of tribulation, distress and anguish, of trouble and ruin, of darkness and gloom is–how to put this?–insane.
If the sequester cuts go into effect, domestic agencies would have to cut 5 percent from their budgets after having received a 17-percent increase during the president’s first term (not counting the more than a quarter-of-a-trillion stimulus bonus). And our budget this fiscal year would still be larger (by some $15 billion) than it was in the last fiscal year.
But what makes this particular episode somewhat different than past ones is that Mr. Obama has supplemented his demagoguery with a touch of cruelty. That is, he has made it clear that he wants to inflict as much harm as possible on Americans in order to make the cuts live up to the hype. The president’s greatest fear is that the sequester cuts will kick in and life will go on. So he’s threatening to pass over wasteful programs in order to target more essential ones.
Emily Holubowich–a Washington health-care lobbyist who leads a coalition of 3,000 nonprofit groups fighting the cuts–gave away the game in her comments to the Washington Post. “The good news is, the world doesn’t end March 2. The bad news is, the world doesn’t end March 2,” Ms. Holubowich said. “The worst-case scenario for us is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens. And Republicans say: See, that wasn’t so bad” (h/t Charles Krauthammer).
So we have the president determined to administer as much pain as he can on Americans even as he excoriates Republicans for their “meat-cleaver approach” that will “eviscerate” key programs.
It is really quite remarkable, this concoction of willful deceptions, hyperbole, demagoguery, mismanagement, and deliberate harm. And to think that a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Barack Obama promised to put an end to cynicism. Instead he has added massively to it. The harm he is doing to our political culture is very nearly incalculable.
According to a report written and released by the Judiciary Committee in 1974 in the aftermath of Watergate, the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 rested in part on allegations that he had exceeded the power of his office and had failed to respect the prerogatives of Congress. n nJust sayin'…
Excellent article Peter, the moral and ethical depths to which the the Obama administration will sink is absolutely amazing. Too bad the MSM is looking away at another Obama made deception and disaster.
In my opinion, the real story is that the MSM is not just looking away, they are peddling these lies to the American public. They have crossed the line. n nI do not mind if the MSM share different views than I do, and I can tolerate them proudly pushing their views. I will shop elsewhere for my news. But, when they outright support misinformation / lies, or they breach national security such as the NYT publishing how we were fighting terrorists, e.g. tracking money movements via SWIFT or listening to cell phone conversations, and doing so knowingly alert the enemy, then I find their behavior treasonous. n nWe need to make their owners pay; don't target the low end journalist. This is like arresting the crack dealer in the street while letting the drug kingpin roam free. No. We must go after editors and owners. Go after their money. Then they will think twice about hurting this country. n nJust for good measure, I would go after Bill Ayers and his punk wife and make life miserable for the rest of their putrid lives.
Can you please stop accusing him of "cynicism"? You yourself have just listed his far worse sins, including cruelty. Being a cynic is a complement in our vernacular, and cynicism is just a grammatical form of cynic.
"Mr. Obama has brushed off a Republican plan to give him flexibility to allocate the $85 billion in spending cuts, which makes no sense if the president wants to replace reckless cuts with responsible ones." n nIn other words, the GOP wants Obama to do the dirty work that THEY VOTED FOR.
No, Hillel, Obama wants the GOP to take the blame for his dirty work. God, you're thick.
Meh, he did the same thing when he pushed health care while the economy was (is) still in the crapper. Never letting a crisis go to waste is the governing principle of his administration and if a few million Americans have their lives ruined in the process, well that's just the price of 'transformation'.
They lie with impunity knowing that the typical, low information Democrat voter will believe; too lazy , indolent and apathetic to research the truth.
And I accuse a willing, fellow-traveling 'press' of complicity in the deception and destruction of this nation.
"career officials" at ICE and in the State Dept are making lots of bad decisions n nWITHOUT ANY INPUT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE n nor APPOINTED department heads? n n noooooMPh
Rove has it right (I don't like saying it), give the cabnet secretaries the authority, not the prez. That way, when they inflict max pain on the citizens you can drag them up to the hill, and make them explain themselves. nThe house should pass that pronto.
A half black President, Marxism-Leninism combined with a dose of Islamism. nIt shows that "American democracy", an illusion, can easily be destroyed unless a real dialogue is initiated with the American masses.
This article is too funny. I had to look back at the top to make sure it wasn't The Onion. The president is using his superpowers for evil because he won't exceed his constitutional powers and do congress' job for them? What a howl.
Even if that's true, does that make the president look better? Or worse?
it is an obvious lie n nmakes Barry look like the lying thug he is