There is a growing consensus that Obama overplayed his hand in the absurd fear-mongering about the immediate impact of the sequester.
While Republican’s did their own share of fear-mongering as to military cuts, and thereby played into Obama’s hand, it still was Obama’s political hand being played.
With the acknowledgement in the media that Obama was untruthful at the presidential debate when he resolutely denied being the source of the sequester concept, to the recognition that the sky was not falling by none other than Obama himself, it seems (pick your analogy!) the Emperor has no clothes and the curtain was pulled back exposing the Wizard.
Via Roll Call:
It wasn’t supposed to be like this for the White House and a re-elected president with political capital to spend.
But President Barack Obama is in a position of supplication to Hill Republicans, talking loudly and often about the harm of automatic budget cuts but lacking the leverage to get the GOP to buckle.
Senior administration officials had for months predicted that Republicans would cave on the sequester and agree to more taxes, even after agreeing to $600 billion in tax increases in the New Year’s Eve fiscal-cliff deal.
After all, aides noted, Republicans had caved again and again: on the 2012 payroll tax cut, on tax rate increases for the wealthy and on a debt ceiling extension.
Why not one more GOP rollover? Polls seemed solidly in the president’s favor.
But so far it’s not working out as the West Wing planned.
Obama held out hope that the GOP might yet yield following a face-to-face meeting with congressional leaders that accomplished nothing.
He said he understands that Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio has strong opposition in his conference to allowing any more revenue now.
“My hope is that they can do it later,” after the effects of the sequester kick in across the country, the president said.
But Obama gave away the one big legislative stick he has in his arsenal. He said he wouldn’t risk a government shutdown by demanding a sequester fix in the continuing resolution needed to fund the government past March 27.
Even the Taiwanese animators are mocking Obama:
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Here’s my own analogy:
As Spock once said on Star Trek, “Logic is like a beautiful flower, that smells really bad.”
Substitute Obama’s logic, and you begin to understand clearly what Spock meant!
LAME DUCK!!!!!!!
I bet it smells like a LAME DUCK –
that flower from Obama’s…..logic?????
LAME DUCK is what Obama smells like also no matter what the dictator-loving leftists are saying now.
It is pretty simple with BO.
If you can’t lead, campaign.
This is just more evidence of his utter lack of leadership instincts or skills.
It is always interesting to see how leading left-wing intellectuals judged Bush’s abilities , and compare that to their silence as to BO’s abilities.
Here is a discussion about Bush’s leadership Princeton Prof. emeritus, Fred I Greenstein (progressive who can hear the ‘dog whistle’ of the right, in NYT on rise of TeaParty: “’This appears to be a surrogate for the racial fringe,’ says Fred I. Greenstein, a prominent presidential historian”).
Greenstein’s view of GW, fit BO like a glove:
“Campaigning may be permanent, but it is not synonymous with governing. [The President’s] political outlook has been steeped in the campaign mentality of modern public life. The mental framework of campaigning invites preoccupation with single win-lose decision points. It conceptualizes the political world as a purely competitive arena for exploiting one’s disagreements with adversaries. It aims to promote one’s cause against these adversaries by telling people what they want to hear. Not what they want to know. All of this can be a disservice the needs of governing. Sensible governing involves trying to grasp the larger picture beyond the contests of the moment. While campaigning seeks to defeat enemies to win an unshared prize, governing demands collaboration to bring others along on various paths of action. Campaigning is about selling a product. Governing is about judging how to use the . . . powers of the modern state.”
“The Leadership Style of George W. Bush”, by Fred I Greenstein, in The George W. Bush Presidency: An Early Assessment, edited by Fred I. Greenstein
All I can hear is George Constanza screaming, “BUT I’VE GOT HAND!!!”
Saturday Night Live was actually funny this weekend! Even they are poking ‘fun’ at the One…
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/03/03/snl-wakes-up-mocks-obama
To be fair, betting on the Republicans to cave is generally easy money.
You know what this means, right? When the time comes, America will be required to defend Taiwan. Or perhaps just the studio where they produce these reports.
As for the sequester, how did the federal government operate before the trillion dollar account deficits? Someone is lying.
At present, there is approximately a 7% difference between the deficit and estimated productivity increases. Something worth noting is one of the tricks they have used to manage inflation. They are offering incentives to remove capital from the private sector in order to [presumably] fund the federal government’s operation.
The federal government is obese! If it does not limit its “caloric” intake, it is at risk of suffering degenerative diseases.
Well, there at least two problems with the federal government which we have identified recently. It… They are bullies and morbidly obese.
If we are really unlucky the obese federal government might just have a massive heart attack and collapse.
I really wish these government officials would get together and solve our financial problems in a serious manner. I bet a room full of 9th graders could come up with a better solution to our country’s budget than the overpaid bureaucrats are doing now.
That would require addressing causes rather than treating symptoms. Unfortunately, too many fingers, or whole appendages, would be lost if they followed that strategy.
As for the immature behavior, it could indicate that they have already suffered a stroke. At least a mild incursion, which manifests in deception and bullying behavior.
He damn near popped Christie’s eyes out, with that belt pull.
As the video ran, a Democratic Senatorial Campaign advertisment popped up to cover the translation to English.
The administration considers this a fail, but only because they didn’t try hard enough.
That’s why they’re quite open now about their intentions to continue to release thousands more imprisoned illegal aliens.
I don’t even know where to go with my outrage about this.
EPIC FAIL!
No one in their right mind gives a care about this
made-up crisis.
It all reminds me of that question.
If a tree falls in a forest……
or to update that question…..
when Obama finally gives another screech, er uh…speech in the forest and no one comes does he still….
You get the picture, if no the sound! =)
“Obama could have spent the last 16 months preparing to mitigate sequestration’s impact on the American people, as any responsible manager would have.”
—Morning Examiner
This is, of course, a killer point that cannot be refuted.
Take, for instance, any competent military commander who is given a KNOWN event in the future that would pose a threat to his mission.
He or she would have a portfolio of contingency plans, considering every variable imaginable, ready at hand. To do less would be gross incompetence.
Same with any COMPETENT CEO of a private sector business.
Did Obama know for certain that the Senate would FAIL to act on TWO House-passed budgets?
Let’s be VERY charitable and say he did not know.
Did he do ANYTHING to assure that IF the Senate OBSTRUCTED a budget solution, the pain to the American people…and vital national security interests…would be minimized?
No.
Mayor: Is this true?
Dr. Peter Venkman/b>: Yes it’s true.
[pause]
Dr. Peter Venkman/b>: This man has no dick.
I wish Republicans had hammered him more on this. It really would have been a brilliant maneuver: then, the more devastating that Obama made the sequester appear, the more incompetent he would make himself appear.
I was hoping Obama would threaten to run away from home if the sequester went through. Oh, well.
I communicated both by phone & email with our 3 area network affiliates & pointed out given Baseline Budgeting their go along stories of deep cuts were lazy, inaccurate. There were no cuts. It must have pissed them off for over the next few days their coverage became more shameless. Of course as they & their audience are Gen x & younger, that’s not surprising.
Why is it that the only cuts you hear mentioned involve people being laid off, overtime hours cut back, or furloughed.
Why can’t they cut back on other expenditures, like travel, office supplies, new government automobiles, etc. Is there no waste in the bloated government we have these days?
A cynic might think they were deliberately trying to make it seem worse than it is.
Hi, I’m a cynic.
Hmmmmph… I expected that by now several planets would have crashed into each other, coastal areas would all be inundated by tidal waves originating in DC and long sleeping mammoths would be angrily awakened from peaceful slumber.
Alas, I woke up at about the same time, (9am), the birds were a-chirping and there was no sign of high water anywhere.
So once again, the liar-in-chief and his team of sock puppets failed to come through with their sordid predictions.
What else is new???
Sequestermageddon II. Stocks rise AGAIN on 2nd Business Day of Sequestration…
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/03/sequestergaddon-ii-stocks-rise-on-day-2.html
Of course Barry lied and lied about Obamageddon. He’s a pathologic liar — that’s what he does and who he is. Today it was revealed that Barry “vowed”, in 2011,to veto any effort to undo the sequester! Pathologic.
But the real long term consequence (other than Barry’s blowing his “mandate” and “political capital”) is that Iran (and all other enemies of the US) see Barry for what he is — a paper tiger who can’t even get John Boehner to do his will. Here comes a nuclear Iran, brought to you by Barry, the Cry-Wolfer-in-Chief.
Analogy: Obama owns ACME Fiasco Co. I am the Road Runner. Beep, Beep!
No analogy but wanted to record my unique term for the President’s childish choices of budget cuts (such as the closing of the White House to tours) The President is throwing a “Sequester Tantrum!”