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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@aol.com href="mailto:tanstl@aol.com">David Sladky</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, February 28, 2013 7:55 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Remember: Sequestration was Obama’s Idea</DIV></DIV>
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<H1 class=title>Remember: Sequestration was Obama’s Idea</H1>
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<DIV class=submitted>Tue, 02/26/2013 - 21:42 — Glen Ford</DIV></DIV>
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class="imagecache imagecache-feature400 imagecache-default imagecache-feature400_default"
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<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><B>A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR executive
editor Glen Ford</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>President Obama is a full partner with the
Republicans in the latest episode of the manufactured disaster saga:
sequestration. “The idea was to make every popular constituency in the country
scream – and accept the inevitability of massive entitlement cuts.” It’s a goal
shared by corporatists in both parties.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT color=#280099><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=4><B>Remember: Sequestration was Obama’s
Idea</B></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><B>A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR executive
editor Glen Ford</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT
color=#2323dc>“<FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>Disaster capitalism is
manifesting itself as disaster governance.”</I></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>The Obama administration has been very
skillful in framing itself as the good guy in the latest looming fiscal
disaster, this time under the heading of “sequestration.” On Friday,
across-the-board cuts of $85 billion are set to go into effect, wreaking havoc
on most government operations. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, the
Children’s Health Insurance Program and what’s left of welfare are not directly
affected, but these so-called “entitlement” programs have, in fact, always been
the primary targets of this cascade of manufactured crises. Disaster capitalism
is manifesting itself as disaster governance, and President Obama is fully
complicit in the corporate-imposed charade. Indeed, Obama is most culpable for
infecting the nation with austerity fever. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>It was Obama who swallowed whole the
corporate argument, previously championed by Republicans, that the national debt
was Crisis Number One and that entitlement programs were the root cause. From
the moment in January of 2009 when Obama served notice that Social Security and
all other entitlements would be put on the chopping block, </FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2><I>he</I></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2> became the chief mover and shaker for
so-called entitlement reform. He created the model for austerity, through his
Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission. It was Simpson-Bowles that provided
the basis for the massive cuts offered by President Obama in 2011. When the
Republicans balked at even a modest tax increase for the rich, it was the White
House National Economic Council Director, the corporate deal-maker
</FONT></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><U><A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_Control_Act_of_2011"
target=_blank><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>Gene
Sperling</FONT></FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT
size=2>, who came up with the sequestration scheme, which was timed to explode
right after the 2012 elections. The idea was to make every popular constituency
in the country scream – and accept the inevitability of massive entitlement
cuts.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT
color=#2323dc>“<FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>The Republicans are his
partners, not his opponents.”</I></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>Let me repeat: Sequestration was Obama’s
idea. So-called entitlement reform is Obama doctrine. Austerity was embedded in
the Democratic Party’s agenda under President Obama. More than any other
individual, it was Barack Obama who engineered the current disaster scenario.
These waves of austerity crises were not inevitable, but they are the inevitable
result of President Obama’s calculated statements and actions since Election Day
2008. The Republicans are his partners, not his opponents. The closest thing he
has to an opposition – at least on paper – is the Congressional Progressive
Caucus, whose two co-chairs introduced a bill that would turn the austerity
juggernaut on its head. It’s called the </FONT></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><U><A
href="http://www.epi.org/blog/progressive-caucuss-approach-sequestration/"
target=_blank><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>Balancing Act of
2013</FONT></FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>,
and would replace all of the sequestration cuts with new revenues, and then add
a $276 billion stimulus to the economy. Needless to say, the progressive bill
will get nowhere, not just because of Republican opposition, but because the top
Democrat, Barack Obama, wants to go down in history as the smart austerity
president. Just as he said he wasn’t opposed to wars, but only to dumb wars –
which is why he has built tens of thousands of the smartest drones and smartest
bombs ever devised by man. He’s outsmarting what passes for a Left in the United
States at every turn. They cheer him as he effectively consummates his grand
bargain with the GOP, in a cacophony of manufactured crises, exhausting what
little opposition remains. That’s why we at BAR call him the more effective
evil.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2>For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On
the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT color=#280099><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT size=2><I>BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be
contacted at </I></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><U><A
href="mailto:Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com"><FONT color=#280099><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT
size=2><I>Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com</I></FONT></FONT></FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT
color=#280099><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT
size=2><I>.</I></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><!-- end of AOLMsgPart_1_01831fca-f216-49aa-b7b9-1956362446b7 --><FONT
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