Good morning. If you are reading this, then the world did not end at midnight as President Obama predicted it would. The federal government has begun to cut almost 2 percent of its projected budget and civil society has not collapsed.
Not that many Americans believed Obama anyway. According to the latest Gallup poll, 37 percent of Americans believe Congress should let the scheduled sequestration cuts go into effect. Another 40 percent of Americans told Pew the same thing, as did 46 percent of those polled by MSNBC.
America is just not that concerned about the Navy being forced to cut back on sports stadium flyovers.
Now that Obama has failed to scare the American people into forcing Republicans to raise taxes, attention in Washington has already turned to the March 27th expiration of the current Continuing Resolution that is authorizing funding for the rest of the Federal Government.
Asked how he plans to proceed on the CR, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters last night he had no intention of doing anything until the Republican controlled House moved first. House Republicans, meanwhile, have announced plans to vote next week on legislation that would keep the government funded at sequester levels through September while giving Obama flexibility to manage the cuts at the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Obama wants no part of that flexibility. He wants to spend the next six months touring the country to highlight the damage the sequester is causing. But at every stop, Republicans will counter that Obama could have chosen to fund whatever program he is complaining about, but instead chose to continue funding $15 billion in duplicative and ineffective job training programs or $4.5 billion in clean energy grants.
The best part for conservatives is that every week Obama wastes on fiscal issues is another week Obama can’t advance his agenda on amnesty or gun control. Obama will eventually figure this out. Then he will cave. It is just a matter of time.
From The Washington Examiner
Examiner Editorial: President Obama’s actions show he isn’t serious about governing
Byron York: ‘Twas the night before sequestration…
Michal Conger: Numbers don’t support White House claim that ‘Let’s Move!’ reduced obesity
Tim Carney: PreCrime unit takes on beer mergers
Phil Klein: Q4 GDP revised up from slightly negative to slightly positive
Conn Carroll: Green state chokes off growth
In Other News
The New York Times, Obama Asks Justices to Reject California’s Ban on Gay Marriage: The Obama administration threw its support behind a broad claim for marriage equality on Thursday, and urged the Supreme Court to rule that voters in California were not entitled to ban same-sex marriage there.
The Washington Post, Bradley Manning pleads guilty: The Army private charged in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history pleaded guilty to 10 charges Thursday and offered an impassioned defense of his actions, arguing that he sought to spark a national debate about what he described as the nation’s obsession with “killing and capturing people.”
The Miami Herald, With no pope, Catholic Church leaderless for now: The Catholic Church awoke Friday with no leader following Benedict XVI’s resignation, in which he pledged obedience to his successor and described himself as “simply a pilgrim” starting the final pilgrimage of his life.
Lefty Playbook
Gawker attacks Bob Woodward as unreliable.
Ian Millhiser says Scalia’s ‘Racial Entitlement’ Quote Is Even Scarier Than You Think.
Ezra Klein explains why Obama wants to make the sequester as painful as possible.
Righty Playbook
Steve Spokesman on the need for more pipelines in the Northeast.
Former Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., says taxing energy is the wrong way to end the sequester.
Veronique de Rugy explains why Obama’s stimulus didn’t work.
