And he’s going to do it with the usual living props, too: “President Barack Obama will once again call on members of Congress to avoid the mandatory spending cuts due to hit at the end of the month, joined by first responders whose jobs may be on the line, according to a White House official.”

Some thoughts on this:

• This is remarkably small-ball for a sitting US President. Watchers of municipality politics are familiar with the gambit, of course: a second-rate mayor (usually Democratic), faced with looming budget cuts (because the money was spent on some mindless enthusiasm of said mayor instead of what it was supposed to be spent on) will come out and cheekily proclaim that if the voters don’t give him more money then all of these firefighters here will get it in the neck. Or school teachers. Or whoever or whatever else the mayor thinks will get the public to panic.
• Only, exactly how this is expected to panic Republican House members is not really explained. Because, ah, there’s a small problem there: a working House majority represents districts that didn’t vote for Barack Obama, but did vote for legislators who promised to do their absolute best to bring spending under control. IOW, the House majority is more scared of their voters than they are of Barack Obama. With good reason: Barack Obama can’t actually do anything to them.
• If the President’s that worried about first responders, then why did he target them with the sequester in the first place? Nobody in the media really wants to ask that question, huh? Or “Why did you push a policy that you are now scared of seeing implemented?” Or “What else were you wrong about, Mister President?” In no-doubt unrelated news, consumers are still abandoning print journalism.
• We can add the sequester to the large, large pile of Failed Policies of the Obama administration. It’s quite a list, really: the stimulus, the drive for cap-and-trade, the umpteen pivots towards jobs, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare – and that’s just the official stuff. In terms of using the White House bully pulpit to get nice stuff for the USA Obama’s even worse. Face it: the man just isn’t a good provider.

I think that it pretty much covers it, huh? – Well, there’s one other thing:

• The sequester deadline’s in nine days, Mister President. Indulge my idle curiosity: what else have you got?

…No, “blame Bush” is not a valid answer.

Moe Lane