I shall now proceed to pat myself on the back, as I often do in this space.
When the so-called "Super Commission" was formed in the summer of 2011, consisting of the usual Congressional suspects, to forge a so-called "grand deal" on taxes and spending, with a trigger for failure built in that has come to be known as 'sequestration' - I posted this opinion on 8/2/11:
I find the uber stupid super commission to be at best the usual DC establishment cop out. I fear it could be far worse – a trap set by the Left that they will close by obstructing the commission’s work to ‘trigger’ steep defense cuts they care deeply about acquiring. The parallel provider-side Medicare cuts* are a speed bump to them, and they probably already have a secret plan for making it whole with their new credit limit out of this deal.*For some reason, my understanding of the crazy quid-pro-quo at that time was defense for medicare. It doesn't necessarily mean I was wrong on the day I wrote it. It could just as well be the deal morphed behind closed doors into the across the board non-discretionary cuts in discretionary spending we are discussing today. Team Leftie probably secretly figured out at a later date a better way to distribute the most pain to the most people with this 'trigger,' then tricked the hapless GOP into agreeing to it.
When the ridiculous commission of grandstanding peacocks inevitably failed, I posted this on 10/2/11:
And finally, slightly off topic yet very indicative of what we're dealing with: I tried to warn the establishment GOP the uber duper commission is a Leftist trap.**This intro to the video clip was originally linked to a Breitbart article titled Dems Insist on Tax Hikes in Deficit Talks.
Guess who LAS is, and who the establishment GOP operatives are, in this classic Python clip.
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So, having established as much credibility on this topic as any credentialed bloviating hack in DC ... I shall now opine on the republic's current circumstance.
Our political "leaders" are promising chaos and ruin if, God forbid, they should take a 2% hair cut in discretionary spending.
They trot out Homeland Security genius Janet "the system worked when the Christmas Day bomber was thwarted by a Dutch artist" Napolitano to warn us DHS cannot possibly keep us secure with a 2% budget cut. Hey, Janet, why not keep a few of those gas guzzling DHS SUVs I see cruising around town with no apparent mission parked for a few days? I'm sure the State Department can loan you a few Chevy Volts from its Green Embassies program.
Transportation Secretary Ray What's Under LaHood warns of chaos in the skies because he will need to send home droves of air traffic controllers. Oh really? Hey, Ray, when that happens I want a full accounting of what was spent by your department on salaries and benefits for desk bound bureau-weenies.
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These clowns can beclown themselves so because the big lie within the Big Lie is they have no discretion over how this 2% cut is applied. Such discretion could be acquired with the stroke of the President's pen, either by signing a simple one line law he was willing to negotiate with Congress or unilaterally by Executive Order. While he has demonstrated no capacity to muster the basic leadership skills for the former, he has certainly shown no hesitation to illegitimately act on the latter when it suits his purposes.
Managing the federal budget has never suited the purposes of the Prophet Barack. He doesn't have the experience, skills, or inclination to manage or lead anything. He is a Leftist community agitator in the Saul Alinsky mold through and through - meaning his modus operandi past, present, and future is to foment chaos for the purpose of lying, dissembling, and demagogue-ing his way to political advantage.
He was brought forth in 2008 by the Left solely because of his melanin level. His complexion was a uniting factor for the Left's race based politics as well as a tranquilizing factor for the low information voter. His radical past was hidden and his thin record puffed up by a sycophantic press corps in the tank for the political Left. This formula gave him a 53% - 46% popular vote victory.
Through a chaotic first term marked by an unbroken string of manufactured crises, like the Great Debt Ceiling Debacle of 2011 that brought us here, the republic's economy stayed stuck on "sucks." Simultaneously, America's international standing declined as Radical Islam's Caliphate gained new footholds across the globe.
Despite this miserable record of governance, the same formula dragged him across the finish line on 6 November 2012 with a reduced 51%-47% margin - ensuring four more years of lurching from one crisis to another. Fiscal Cliff and now Sequestration are just the beginning. Only 1422 days to go. Thanks low information voter. Thanks corrupt and biased liberal media.
Update 3/1/13
Beware the ides of March ... Sequesteration has hit! I made the effort this morning to document my commute to work.
Update #2 3/1/13
Reaganite Republican has an excellent article covering the Empty Suit's "chicken little" political strategy. Let me remind you we are talking about a 2% decline in the rate of growth for the federal budget. It's like saying your household is doomed, doomed, I say, if your budget only grew from 50 grand to $59,800 this year instead the previously expected $60,000.
