... full on the lips on the steps of the Capitol.
A kiss is so powerful and a liberals' kiss has the mojo to slay dragons. Lemme explain.
One of my favorite stories during the rule of Bush the Lesser was the brief Harriet Myers saga. It only got one episode, cancelled in 48 hours, but what a spectacle. The money shot from that show was Harry Reid, literally kissing the innocent SCOTUS nominee on the Capitol steps in front of an assembled throng of dissemblers. The clock was almost visible on the screen "3,2, 1..........."
Oh, the wailing of Coulter, the knashing of Hannity, good God the humanity! Within hours she collapsed from being the bestest, self-picked Supreme candidate, EVER, to being a worthless, talentless, underacheiving wretch, suitable only for "womans' work".
The joy of seeing Red On Red action quickly dissipated into the reality that is Justice Sam Alito. While truly unqualified based on her resume, Myers did figure to be a reasonably reasonable jurist on reproduction and LGBT issues. In fact, her nomination might have helped staunch the bleeding Team Mean has taken with those constituancies. That is the upside to the Myers implosion. The downside is that we are saddled with a robo-conservative from the Clarence Thomas school of fair-minded compassion.
Yes, a liberals' kiss packs a wallop. PBHO knows this. That's why none of his signature achievements came with his name on the package. He understands that his support of anything musters an army of haters. He understands that immigration reform and gun control will get stonewalled for the next 18 months. He probably has this gamed out that the Reds will reject any efforts he puts forth on these subjects, thus inspiring a rare midterm lib-wave in 2014.
However, the sequester is a done deal and the President knows it. Boehner isn't going to show up at the White House door with a basket of tax expenditures to toss on the fire. It's time to take a Great Liberal Victory and let the Reds force him to be the most powerful President in 40 years.
WHAT!? Over the squiggle for the real deal.
First the Bill: The House is ready to pass a Continuing Resolution that would finance the gubmint through September. It reinstates some Pentagon Pork but you can bet it will also add back an equal amount of Blue meat. Otherwise it won't even make it out of the House as it will need a lot of Dem votes. Welcome back to the reality that Boehner can't get 218 Republicans to vote for ANYTHING. Reid has said that he can live with what's coming out but there will be amendments. More sweeteners for everyone, less sequester for the crazies. Sad face :(
Now the Kiss: Obama has to now embrace the sequester for what it is, a huge liberal victory. The Pentagon will end up taking a big hit. The biggest of any special interest, and it will be arbitrary. No protecting anything, nobodies district is safe. Especially districts that build redundant jet engines for planes that are already on the chopping block (hint: doesn't rhyme with "boner"). A gleeful leak that the Pres is giddy over gutting the nations defense could induce strokes in regular readers of Drudge, the Daily Caller and Horse & Hound. Suddenly, congress will feel a tremendous need to "Safeguard the Nations Dee-fense"... i.e. protect local bases and contractors from getting scraped.
Wait! A Cure: Thankfully Repub thinkers have already been on the case and they've not only got a Fix for the Sequester inequities, they've got a name for it. I'll let Charles Krauthammer fill you in, he's so good at this:
Conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer says President Obama could easily reduce the fear and panic engendered by the looming sequester if he would simply push Congress to pass a bill allowing a transfer of funds from less important federal accounts to more important federal accounts.
“And the president is the one who ought to propose it,” Krauthammer told Fox News on Wednesday. “He won’t, of course, because he is looking for a fight, and not a solution.”…
NO, NO, NO Kraut! The Prez cannot propose it because then the Militias would immediately start zeroxing pamplets on how Barock Husaan MaoBama is usurping the founding fathers givin' constitutional power of the purse from our noble House of Republicans. No, the only way Hammer's mythical "Sequester Transfer Authority" gets in the hands of our favorite Kenyan Socialist is for the Republicans in Congress for force it on him. Yep, they are happy taking the pound of flesh, they just don't want to cut it out with a rusty lid from a can of peas. They want Obama to own it. They want to be able to tell all of there constituents "Hey, Obama cut your base", "Hey, Obama cut your kids vaccines", etc. They think, this way they get their cuts and That One gets the blame. Brilliant.
Some form of Sequester Transfer Authority will end up in the Senate version. It will pass in the Hizzie because Boehner will probably need a hundred Blue votes to pass a bill. Obama will sign it reluctantly. Suddenly, he will become a President clothed in immense power.
The Immense Power Part: Simple. Chuck Hagel and the President now get to sit by the fire and design the wind down of the military industrial complex. If Obama had ever suggested this it would never have made if past first base on either side of the Hill. On the discretionary side, most of our cherished safety net is already protected in the sequester language but I trust PBHO to direct cuts from those in need to those in largess. It's a big budget, Sylvia Burwell and Jack Lew should have now problem isolating $40B+ of inefficient pork pointed at corrupt contractors. Start with anything that says "faith based".
The End Game: Suddenly, the White House will get calls returned. How many times have you heard DC insiders lament that "Boehner can't get anything done because he doesn't have any Pork to grease the skids"? Well, POTUS will have all of the pork at his line item discretion. Want to save a project in your hometown? I need a vote for (fill in the blank). This is how politics has worked since humans clustered into tribes. Obama will have the grease usually reserved for a House Speaker. It won't make the next 18 months easy but it will make it manageable. Heck, I think deep down the party of "Vote No, Hope Yes" would love to hand the Big O the scalpel... they don't want to bleed to death either!
Yes, this is how it should work. But first, Barrack needs to prepare to give the bad ole Sequester a big ole KISS.