“The worst-case scenario for us is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens”
“The good news is, the world doesn’t end March 2. The bad news is, the world doesn’t end March 2,” said Emily Holubowich, a Washington health-care lobbyist who leads a coalition of 3,000 nonprofit groups fighting the cuts. “The worst-case scenario for us is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens. And Republicans say: See, that wasn’t so bad.”
In the long partisan conflict over government spending, the sequester is where the rubber meets the road. Obama is betting Americans will be outraged by the abrupt and substantial cuts to a wide range of government services, from law enforcement to food safety to public schools. And he is hoping they will rise up to demand what he calls a “balanced approach” to deficit reduction that replaces some cuts with higher taxes.
But if voters react with a shrug, congressional Republicans will have won a major victory in their campaign to shrink the size of government. Instead of cancelling the sequester, the GOP will likely push for more.
“It would be a big problem for the White House if the sequester came and went and nobody really noticed anything. Then people will start saying, ‘Well, maybe we can cut spending,” said John H. Makin, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who penned a recent Wall Street Journal piece titled “Learning to Love the Sequester.”
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All this talk about cutting a budget that doesn’t even exist.
ctmom on February 24, 2013 at 12:14 PM
Yep. And nothing bad would happen if they cut 10% off the baseline. Well, unless you were a government pork beneficiary.
platypus on February 24, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Ergo, the long lines at the airport, no more national zoo tours, the gay cowboy poetry rodeo will lose funding.
BobMbx on February 24, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Thread winning comment at the WaPo link:
Of course, this elicited an absolutely eloquent response from a Rocket Scientist O’bama Cargo Culter, aptly named “caveman9″ :
Well spoken!
Del Dolemonte on February 24, 2013 at 12:16 PM
As The Debt Star Looms, The Chicken Littles Scream “The Sequester Is Nigh!”
Resist We Much on February 24, 2013 at 12:18 PM
Fun for Del:
Here’s another staggeringly informed comment from the WaPo comments:
I nearly pee’d myself once it sunk in.
BobMbx on February 24, 2013 at 12:23 PM
No! Not the gay cowboy poetry rodeo!
Paul-Cincy on February 24, 2013 at 12:26 PM
If the r’s cave we will never know? Wonder if the Friday dump will be the r’s caved to keep the US from falling off the face of the earth?
This whole thing is just a dog and pony show by bho and the dc bunch and happens every few months or so.
L
letget on February 24, 2013 at 12:26 PM
Hey, GOP, hurry up and cave on this crisis so we can move on to the next one!
The Rogue Tomato on February 24, 2013 at 12:31 PM
Not to worry. Obama will see to it that that doesn’t happen.
I imagine his gang is strategizing now on how to inflict maximum pain, while shifting the blame to the GOP.
petefrt on February 24, 2013 at 12:31 PM
Anything good for America is bad news for them it seems.
astonerii on February 24, 2013 at 12:41 PM
As people start to realize they don’t need to depend on government for everything. The horror, the horror.
rbj on February 24, 2013 at 12:57 PM
“I hope America fails.”
/All liberals
RoadRunner on February 24, 2013 at 12:58 PM
which is why the WH will never let that happen. Prepare to hear horror story after horror story aafter the sequester hits and if the gOPe isn’t ready to counter that attack they are deadmen walking.
unseen on February 24, 2013 at 1:05 PM
The GOP should be protraying the sequester as a pay cut for lobbyists.
unseen on February 24, 2013 at 1:06 PM
No, because then Obama would go around saying the now “brilliant idea” for the sequester was all his idea in the first place.
albill on February 24, 2013 at 1:23 PM
There are plenty of bad things happening. This will just allow the SRM to finally report them.
forest on February 24, 2013 at 1:24 PM
Industrial Strength Stupid. Another fine product of the Democrat Public Education System.
What the getalife is the difference between a “road” and a “highway” anyway?
And Messr. Gonzalez’s Union Teachers obviously never “taught” him that the very first roads in the US were privately capitalized. So were the railroads. In fact, the US Government didn’t even get into the road business until the early 20th century.
Del Dolemonte on February 24, 2013 at 1:28 PM
My wife just called me to tell me to stock up on frozen ground beef because the sequester would result in a meat shortage.
My wife needs to stop paying so much attention to here liberal Facebook friends.
Count to 10 on February 24, 2013 at 1:35 PM
God damn all the Looters, in turm the moochers.
Schadenfreude on February 24, 2013 at 1:48 PM
Del Dolemonte on February 24, 2013 at 1:28 PM
You are such a blessing to HA and the sane world.
Schadenfreude on February 24, 2013 at 1:50 PM
Jugears can always count on the palace guard media to run the screen plays.
Red Creek on February 24, 2013 at 2:09 PM
All this talk about cuts that are actually still increases.
Fenris on February 24, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Everything I needed to know about the sequester I learned from the Mayan Apocalypse.
TexasDan on February 24, 2013 at 2:31 PM
lol, I’m sane?
Del Dolemonte on February 24, 2013 at 2:57 PM