PJTV Trifecta - Fright Makes Right: Obama's Sequester Scare Tear

President Obama is taking to the airwaves in an attempt to terrify Americans about budget cuts that he proposed. Is it working, and if so, why can't the GOP fight back against Obama's scare tactics? Find out as Tammy Bruce visits the Trifecta gang.

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Kate Obenshain - Sequester Blame Game Analzyed

Kate Obenshain is a conservative political commentator and Vice President of Young America's Foundation.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama brushed off a Republican plan Tuesday (2-26-2013) to give him flexibility to allocate $85 billion in looming spending cuts, wanting no part of a deal that would force him to choose between the bad and the terrible.

"These cuts are wrong. They're not smart, they're not fair. They're a self-inflicted wound that doesn't have to happen," Obama said at Newport News, VA (2/26/13) What he did not say was that 'Sequestration was his idea and was signed and passed into law by him.

Aired 2/26/2013

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Crystal Wright - Sequester was Obama’s Idea - Make him Own it!

President Obama is good at spending money and very adroit at blaming Republicans for the many failures of his presidency. Four years under his belt and another four to go and Obama continues the blame game with gusto. Now Obama is topping his own standard of hypocrisy and blaming the $1.2 trillion sequester on Republicans when the idea was Obama’s in 2011.

“And that’s why it’s so troubling that just 10 days from now, Congress might allow a series of automatic, severe budget cuts to take place that will do the exact opposite,” declared his Royal Highness Obama.

Let’s get this straight, it’s Congress’ fault sequestration, also known as the automatic spending cuts, is about to happen even though it was Obama’s idea? Apparently, Obama also never said in November 2011: “I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and defense spending. There will be no easy off ramps on this one.”

Oh, well he’s Obama and the media doesn't hold him accountable to a record much less his words. The first round of $85 billion in yearly automatic cuts for the next ten years is set to rip March 1, 2013. In his usual haughty tone of denying culpability, Obama continued:

“So these cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls. This is not an abstraction -- people will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again."

If the sequester isn't “fair”, why didn't the president get serious about solving the problem of government spending and debt in 2011 during the debt ceiling talks? Instead, Obama proposed the sequester to which Republicans in Congress objected in favor of serious budget belt-tightening?

In the summer of 2011, Obama waged a PR war demanding Republicans in Congress raise the nation’s debt ceiling (its ability to borrow) so Obama could spend more money. Republicans said they would only raise the debt ceiling (now $16.5 trillion) if Obama agreed to cut government spending. When the two sides couldn't agree to significant cuts and Obama rejected House Speaker Boehner’s offer to raise $800 billion in taxes, the White House proposed “sequestration.”

If the sequester, again OBAMA’S IDEA (see page 326, The Price of Politics), isn't “smart” and “will hurt our economy” why didn't Obama deal with it in January 2013 instead of demanding $600 billion in tax increases on higher earners over 10 years. This amounts to $60 billion a year, which will pay down less than 5% of Obama’s $1trillion yearly deficits/over spending habit.

Obama didn't want to deal with the sequester in January so Congress kicked the can down the road until March 1, 2013. Voila, here we are less than 10 days away from sequestration with the Commander in Chief once again demanding action from Congress, as if he is a bystander to government not part of it. Half of the $85 billion in cuts would come from Defense and the other half from discretionary domestic spending, which is only a 5% cut. The Wall Street Journal calls it The Unscary Sequester, reminding readers Hurricane Sandy aid was $60 billion to put things in perspective.

We've seen this act before from Obama: 2012 and 2010 Bush tax cut stand off, 2009 stimulus, Obamacare, Dodd Frank, etc. His script is always the same, “Congress do it, do it now. Republicans you are getting in my way, you are bad. I’m the first black president. I deserve anything I want and will not be held to the same standards of my predecessors.”

This is what Obama is saying and he’s getting away with it. Why? Because Obama enjoys a “fawning media” who perpetuates his preposterous narrative and because Republicans are lousy at PR.

Republicans fail to stay on message. Instead of telling their own story, Republicans always chase Obama’s narrative of himself and the GOP. Over the past four years, particularly during the 2012 presidential race, Obama was deft at changing the subject from his failures to the gender, race and class wars, Bush, Romney’s taxes, etc.

How does the GOP beat a media maverick like Obama? First, Republicans need to let sequestration happen and force Obama to take responsibility for the mess he’s created. Second, House Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell need create a consistent message and tell their team to stick with it!

For example: “This president refuses to get serious about the real issues facing this country and instead wants to play the blame game, passing the buck like he’s not a part of the problem but a bystander to it.”

“The sequester makes no cuts to mandatory or entitlement spending which according to the Congressional Budget Office , are the main drivers of our unsustainable debt for the next 75 years.”

“Since he became president in 2009, Obama has added $6 trillion to our debt, which stands at $16.5 trillion. He has refused to cut government spending even though the Congressional Budget Office warns our debt threatens the country’s future.”

“If unemployment remains above 7.5%, as the Congressional Budget Office projects through 2014, it will be the longest period in 70 years and the sixth straight year under Obama’s presidency the jobless rate has stayed above 7.5%.”

With a lousy record like Obama’s: persistently high unemployment, largest debt since World War II, and a faltering economy, Obama shouldn't have gotten re-elected much less be blaming Republicans for anything. But Obama is better at spinning his version of reality. It’s time for the GOP to step up its game or stay in the corner and get punched.

Crystal Wright

Crystal Wright is a black conservative woman living in Washington, D.C. Some would say she is a triple minority: woman, black and a Republican living in a Democrat dominated city. She’s contemplating moving back to her home state of Virginia, where her vote would count for something. By day, Crystal is a communications consultant and editor and publisher of the new website, conservativeblackchick.com. Crystal earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgetown University and holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Wright is the principal owner of the Baker Wright Group, LLC , a full service public relations firm, specializing in communications counseling, media relations, message development, media training and crisis communications. The firm’s approach is straight forward counseling: an unvarnished approach to public relations.

Visit Crystal's Website by clicking HERE

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Star Parker - In Search of Conservative Leadership

The annual Independence Day party that I host at my home was particularly alive with conversation this year. Conversation probably not too different from what was taking place in a lot of backyards around the country.

Folks are concerned that our nation is in bad shape and dangerously, maybe even hopelessly, adrift.

The choreography was in place to assure a downbeat Independence Day party for a house filled with conservatives. A listless economy, coupled with the cold shower of the Supreme Court’s decision in the prior week giving most of Obamacare a constitutional green light. To compound the injury, the dismally disappointing decision was written and handed down by a Chief Justice nominated by a Republican president and an alleged conservative.

But Chief Justice Roberts’ words captured, really, the rub of what is bothering many conservatives:

"Members of this court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our nation's leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices”

Maybe how Roberts interpreted the constitution disappointed. But his point is indisputable. If you’re looking for political leadership, “It’s not our job.”

Conservatives are looking for leadership at this difficult and challenging time.

Maybe because the crowd at my California home this July 4th consisted of many long time Southern Californians, there was talk about Reagan.

Yes, Carter was bad. But Reagan did not just run against a bad economy and a confused, uninspiring president. He understood and believed in America – and he ran on this vision. This is leadership.

It happens that last month marked the 25th anniversary of Reagan’s famous “Tear down this wall’ speech in Berlin. The author of the speech, Peter Robinson, recalled the event in a Wall Street Journal column.

The story has been told many times. But it cannot be recalled too many times that the political professionals – the president’s advisors and the various members of the president’s staff – opposed including the ‘Tear down this wall” line in Reagan’s Berlin speech.

Despite numerous attempts to remove the line from the speech, it stayed in – because of Reagan.

This is leadership.

The problems we have today did not start four years ago. They are the accumulation of many years of a slow but consistent departure from our core principles of being a free nation, under God.

Of our now almost $16 trillion in debt – 100 percent of our GDP - $5 trillion was added over the last four years. But ten trillion – almost two thirds – was added over the last twelve years.

Forty percent of our four trillion dollar federal budget consists of inefficient entitlement programs tilting into bankruptcy. These are old and outdated programs – Social Security going back to the 1930’s, Medicare and Medicaid to the 1960’s.

Our public school systems hold 60 million children captive by teachers unions that are dedicated to left wing ideas and moral relativism.

The traditional American family is becoming a relic of history. Out of wedlock births and using abortion as birth control have become fixtures of our society.

When Reagan ran for president in 1980 health care expenditures consumed 9 percent of our GDP. Today they consume 18 percent. We have a health care problem with or without John Roberts’ unpopular decision.

Real recovery is impossible now without inspired leadership dedicated to recapturing principles of limited government, individual freedom, and the traditional values that made America great.

The left has a leader. He is in the White House and he is leading us into oblivion.

Where is conservative leadership? Leadership that will remind us that American community is defined by personal responsibility – not by government mandates?

Star Parker

Star Parker is founder and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, a 501c3 think tank which explores and promotes market based public policy to fight poverty, as well as author of the newly revised Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can do About It.

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Lurita Doan - Obama’s Pro-Growth Illusion

Barack Obama claims to be pro-growth. So does Greece, Spain, and almost everyone else. Why? Because admitting preference for the alternative—crushing, heavy-handed government interference that kills initiative and destroys wealth—is not attractive to any citizen of any country.

The problem lies in the meaning of “pro-growth”. As an unabashed capitalist, and as a supporter of free markets, I believe “pro-growth” means less government interference and more individual accountability where private sector businesses create the jobs and government pretty much stays out of the equation. But it's increasingly clear that our president has a much different idea and defines “pro-growth” far differently.

Of course, Barack Obama often says he is “pro-growth”—but the question to ask is: growth of what?

After three years in office, it seems rather clear that Obama believes in the growth of government. At the core of all of his policies is a belief that government can allocate resources more efficiently than can the private sector.

According to Obama, only the government can make wise “investments”. According to Obama’s view, private money and private investors are simply not as capable or as wise as is government in choosing the kinds of investments that will lead to growth and job expansion.

Not too surprisingly, Obama’s strange definition of “growth” is actually a call for a growth of government, growth of debt, growth of bureaucracy, growth of taxes and growth of government regulations. Barack Obama simply believes that taxpayers should be required (or compelled) to send more money to Washington where the political class can then decide how best to “invest” the money.

The “growth” that Barack Obama seeks, ultimately, is growth in government’s control over the lives of all Americans. As we have already learned from three years of watching our president try to apply this tragic economic theory, we have seen our economy stagnate as entrepreneurs and small businesses get squeezed. The only “growth” in Obama’s economy has been the growth of economically harmful and dangerous trends.

Obama has overseen a growth in the price of gas at the pump, growth in the nation’s dependency on foreign oil, growth in unemployment, growth in the number of people receiving and the amount of dollars allocated to entitlements, growth in the number of Czars designed to evade oversight from congress, even growth in the number of foreclosures.

In general, after three and a half years of the Obama administration’s “pro-growth” efforts, Americans are poorer and more dependent on the federal government.

Is this really what Americans are endorsing when they hear the term “pro-growth”? This is certainly not what the Founding Fathers envisioned.

Under Obama federal spending has grown from $1 trillion dollars in 2008 to almost $4 trillion dollars in just three years, without any growth in the economy, without any reduction in unemployment and without any significant improvement in the quality of life or opportunities for the future of Americans.

Under Obama, the public debt has grown to the point where it exceeds our nation’s annual GDP. Nowhere and at no time has this kind of equation ever been a recipe for economic growth.

LUnder Obama, the number of regulations affecting all aspects of American lives has grown. In 2011, the Obama administration put into place over 2000 different rules, statues or regulations affecting everything from the environment to the kinds of paper used for filing federal reports.

Under Obama, the number of czars has increased, even as the number of senate-confirmed leaders has dwindled. Coinciding with the increase in czars comes an increase in the bureaucracy, and an increase in the staff to support the czars, all paid for with taxpayer dollars.

Under Obama there has been growth in the number of unemployed, with minorities and teens hit the hardest.

Under Obama, the regulations affecting small businesses has created an environment of uncertainty and increased cost which discourages, rather than encourages, job creation.

Under Obama, Americans have seen an increase in the frequency of fear-mongering and race-baiting as a Democrat political strategy, designed to intimidate anyone who questions or criticizes Democrats’ flawed policies.

There has been growth under Obama—it’s just the wrong kind of growth. Lots of fine sounding rhetoric that fosters the illusion of growth. One thing seems clear--while we all seem to be speaking the same language the meaning varies greatly between what Obama says and what Americans understand.

When Barack Obama talks about his “pro-growth” agenda, Americans should start to ask just exactly what Obama hopes to “grow”.

Lurita Doan

Lurita Alexis Doan is an African American conservative commentator who writes about issues affecting the federal government.

Lurita has been involved in the business community through participation in many trade associations, membership in business organizations including the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization (now Entrepreneurs' Organization) and Young Presidents' Organization, and involvement on charitable community activities.

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