President Obama on Sequestration: "We shall manage it as best we can, try to minimize the impact on American families."

President Obama, after retreating from his Apocalyptic vision of Sequestration, said Tuesday “We shall manage it as best we can, try to minimize the impact on American families.” Therein lies the problem. The President does not govern; he campaigns. His Cabinet falls far short of President Lincoln’s Cabinet of greatness. An Administration focused on income redistribution and tax increases is not suddenly going to become one focused in fact on minimizing the impacts on the American family. Major decisions are generally made to boost the Obama Administration. Thus, the Obama Administration could claim it did not know what was happening in Benghazi even though it was viewing a continuous feed. More recently Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has apparently been acting as a rogue agency. Gary Mead abruptly resigned last week as Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations of ICE after releasing at least two thousands detainees scheduled for deportation. Jay Carney, spokesperson for the Administration, initially said only a few hundred were released. Then it said the White House had nothing to do with the releases. Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, followed up by admitting she also knew nothing about the releases. The releases in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, New Orleans, and Texas, which were implemented prior to March 1, the day sequestration became effective, save an estimated $146/day per released detainee. The risk to the public is much great. Secretary Napolitano said TSA would have to cut back and planes would be delayed. Snowstorms billowing through Chicago have interfered with flight operations, but that’s normal this time of year. The TSA on the very eve of sequestration signed a contract for $50 million in new uniforms at $1,000/uniform. The uniforms are also partially made in Mexico. The Secretary of Education said before sequestration that teachers were receiving pink slips. He retracted the statement when asked to justify it. A distant President and ignorant Cabinet officials do not make for informed decision making. Contrary to the President’s claims, his sequestration cuts are not designed to minimize the impact on American families. Rather they are designed to maximize the political advantage to the Obama Administration. The cuts will be highly visible to maximize public pressure. Thus the White House announced today the suspicion of public tours of the White House. You can still arrange a visit to the White House by donating $500,000 to the President’s independent advocacy organization. There has been no talk from the White House about sequestering the President’s travel and golf trips. Lest we forget, The White House belongs to the people of the United States. Sequestration apparently did not prevent the Administration from giving $250 million to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Government Sequestration is an opportunity for agencies to cull waste and unnecessary programs from their agency. Most agency heads know where the deadwood lies. They could bring more efficiency into their agencies and the services they provide. That would minimize the impact on the public. That though is not going to happen.