Obama’s Sequester Scare Tactics

Anytime President Obama calls a press conference to discuss the looming sequester to our $16.5 trillion in debt government, you can expect him to begin with an opening statement that makes him appear to be concerned with our national debt and then move on to how Republicans want to gut all of the programs that will literally harm children and the elderly. Today, he’s arguing that Republicans want to burn your house down. 

Obama said the following at his press conference today:

"People will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again," Obama said, appearing in front of a slew of emergency responders.  He used the presence of the first responders — whose jobs he said were on the line as a result of the cuts — to issue a direct challenge to Republicans.

"Are you willing to see a bunch of emergency responders lose their jobs because you want to protect some special interest tax loophole?" Obama said.

Obama said that the sequester "won't help the economy, won't create jobs, and will mean hardship for a whole lot of people."

So did someone forget to remind Obama that this sequester was a) his idea in the first place and b) something he signed into law? Nevermind that, the more important point is who the President strategically chose to place behind him during the speech. The first responders standing behind him represented his refusal to address mandatory spending (entitlements) and play to his base: government workers. He wants the public to believe that firefighters will be laid off unless Republicans vote for another tax increase.

The sequester was passed and signed into law by Mr. Obama as a compromise between both sides that included addressing our entitlements and tax reform. Republicans caved and allowed tax hikes to take affect for anyone making over $400,000/ year. Now its’ time for the President to hold up his end of the bargain and hand over the necessary cuts to the biggest driver of our debt – and that’s not your local firefighters.

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