Who will the public blame if the sequester hits?
With potentially damaging automatic government spending cuts looming, Republicans and Democrats point fingers at each other
President Obama is cranking up the pressure on Republicans, insisting they'll be the ones the public will blame for the economic damage that could result if Congress doesn't do something to avoid deep, automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect in 10 days. On Tuesday, Obama urged GOP lawmakers to pass a Democratic stopgap proposal that would trim deficits with more modest spending cuts and extra revenue from closed tax loopholes, but delay for the rest of the year deep reductions in defense and other spending, which would slash $1.2 trillion from the next decade of deficits. "It won't help the economy. It won't create jobs. It will visit hardship on a whole lot of people," Obama said, and "add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls."
Republicans were not moved. They dismissed Obama's speech as an attempt to shift blame for the spending cuts, which were part of a 2011 debt deal Obama signed, to the GOP, while making a compromise unacceptable by insisting on tax hikes he knows Republicans can't accept. "The president offered no credible plan that can pass Congress — only more calls for higher taxes," House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said. This, says Tom McCarthy at Britain's Guardian, is "the hot-potato stage of things, when Republicans and the president toss blame back and forth in an effort not to be stuck with it when the magical chime sounds." Republicans say they'd take smaller budget cuts if Obama would only play ball, and the president, surrounded by firefighters and other emergency responders who might lose their jobs if the sequester hits, insists a deal would be possible if only the GOP would put the country first. The question is, who will the public believe?
Conservatives say it's pointless for Obama to point fingers at Republicans because, they assert, it was Obama's idea in the first place. "Liberals seem to have convinced themselves they will wriggle free from the Obama sequester," says Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post, and that's probably because they got the GOP to cave on the fiscal cliff when the year began. But this time there's no sign of GOP "weak-kneedness," and with good reason. The sequester is Obama's baby, a scheme to force Republicans to back down by holding defense cuts over their heads. Now Obama's the one who has to cave, or pay the price for the damage he brings down on the economy.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
According to Michael Tomasky at The Daily Beast, however, the GOP argument that the sequester was Obama's idea is only half true. Obama only suggested it as a way of preventing the GOP from torpedoing the economy by letting the federal government hit the debt ceiling, run out of money, and default on its obligations. So the sequester was Obama's idea "in much the way that it's a parent's 'idea' to pay ransom to a person who has taken his child hostage." Americans — at least those "outside of Fox News land" — know full well who's the hostage-taker in this scenario. And if they forget, Republicans will obligingly remind them in the coming days, and reap the blame they so richly deserve for any economic pain that follows.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
14 recent scientific breakthroughs
In Depth From photos of the infant universe to an energy advancement that could save the planet
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published