Boom: "The Obama Sequester"

Boom: "The Obama Sequester"
By Guy Benson
2/21/2013

The Republican National Committee has President Obama dead to rights on his breathtaking hypocrisy and demagoguery regarding the impending automatic "sequestration" cuts that he's now trying to attribute to the GOP. This video doesn't break any new ground on substance, but its stark juxtaposition of Obama's 2011 veto threat and this week's attempt at blame shift is absolutely damning:

Click here to watch:

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus couples this clip with a statement slamming Obama's duplicity and taking Democrats to task for their serial debt denialism:

"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."

The bills to which Priebus refers are two pieces of legislation passed by the Republican House of Representatives that would have cleaned up the president's sequester cuts to make them less reckless. Both were dead on arrival in Harry Reid's Senate, thanks to Obama's veto vow (see above). Obama's performance earlier this week was just another class warfare-laden stump speech for more tax hikes from a president addicted to bullying through sensationalism and vilification. Republicans were forced into a corner during fiscal cliff negotiations at the end of 2012, but they have the inertia and law on their side in this skirmish. Another tax increase is off the table. House Speaker John Boehner made this crystal clear in a Wall Street Journal op/ed published yesterday, which also took the president to task for his pitiful leadership:

Having first proposed and demanded the sequester, it would make sense that the president lead the effort to replace it. Unfortunately, he has put forth no detailed plan that can pass Congress, and the Senate—controlled by his Democratic allies—hasn't even voted on a solution, let alone passed one. By contrast, House Republicans have twice passed plans to replace the sequester with common-sense cuts and reforms that protect national security. The president has repeatedly called for even more tax revenue, but the American people don't support trading spending cuts for higher taxes. They understand that the tax debate is now closed. The president got his higher taxes—$600 billion from higher earners, with no spending cuts—at the end of 2012. He also got higher taxes via ObamaCare.

Don't believe Boehner (or Bob Woodward) on the origins of the sequester? Have a listen to Montana Democrat Sen. Max Baucus' rendering of the relevant timeline:

Click here to watch:

The sequester is the law of the land; demanded by the White House, passed by both houses of Congress, and signed by the president. Republicans have twice proposed specific plans to restructure its cuts, both of which were swatted aside by Democrats. These same impudent Democrats -- you know, the ones who came up with the sequester and voted for it -- are now suddenly frantic to offset the cuts, yet they haven't voted on any mechanism to do so. For his part, the president doesn't even have a plan on paper to do so. He's too busy pounding the table about Republicans, surrounded by human props. Who can be bothered with governing when one has opponents to demonize?
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To read another article about Sequestration, click here.
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To read another article by Guy Benson, click here.