I believe him because the President is not a nice man. He is a bully when he wins and look out when he loses! He will not let Congress off the hook for allowing the sequester to take effect. He will see to it that the most vulnerable Americans among us “hurt” to make his point - the sequester was a mistake.
If unemployment goes up, or a massive layoff is imminent, or the stock market falls, it will be because of the sequester. If Iran (I should probably say when Iran) develops the bomb, it will be because of the sequester. When the next weather event occurs, you guessed it, it will be because those nasty Republicans allowed the sequester to occur. Any glitch in the next two years will be the fault of the sequester.
Over the course of his presidency, Obama has used his campaign skills, his cabinet, and even the press to effectively coerce Congress into passing legislation by scaring the bejeebers out of gullible citizens. This time Congress bulked, citizens slept, and the President didn’t get his way.
Saturday, after the sequester went into effect, the President said there was still time to find a smarter solution to the nation's debt problem. "I still believe we can and must replace these cuts with a balanced approach - one that combines smart spending cuts with entitlement reform and changes to our tax code that make it more fair for families and businesses without raising anyone's tax rates.” No one can argue with that, Mr President, but the trouble is none of that was part of your "balanced approach" before the sequester. You have never mentioned entitlement reforms.
Ben Hallman, Senior Financal Writer for the Huffington Post agrees, it wasn’t clear what Obama meant by “balanced approach.” He wrote, “So what perks, exactly, does Obama want to cut? The president has avoided going into much detail, but public statements and a recent White House policy paper suggest these likely priorities.” Hallman then speculates on what the President could have meant. You can read his article at the Huffington Post Web site for the details.
Interestingly, vague proposals, like the one above, is another tool the President has used while in office. He never offers his leadership to solve a problem. He leaves that to Congress, which has confounded Republican Speaker Boehner more than once. On spending cuts and entitlement reform, we can expect more of the same. The President will let the Congress propose cuts, which he will oppose - so he can appear the hero and Congress the villain.
As far as closing the loopholes in the tax code, both Speaker Beohner and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed with the President to close loopholes - just not as a trade-off for tax cuts. Good thinking gentlemen.
