Who Is Responsible For The U.S. Sequestration Mess

Obama’s Sequester Deal-Changer -- Bob Woodward, Washington Post

Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround the sequester, the term for the $85 billion in ugly and largely irrational federal spending cuts set by law to begin Friday.

What is the non-budget wonk to make of this? Who is responsible? What really happened?

The finger-pointing began during the third presidential debate last fall, on Oct. 22, when President Obama blamed Congress. “The sequester is not something that I’ve proposed,” Obama said. “It is something that Congress has proposed.”

The White House chief of staff at the time, Jack Lew, who had been budget director during the negotiations that set up the sequester in 2011, backed up the president two days later.

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My Comment: This is a surprise .... Bob Woodward from the Washington Post and of Watergate fame calling the President (essentially) a liar. As to what is my take .... Bob Woodward is being too critical of the President. His office may have proposed the idea, but Congress and many Republicans did jump in and join their Democrat colleagues in supporting this bill. From my vantage point .... both sides are responsible for America's budget deficit/fiscal mess, and (cough cough) the voters who elected them.