The politics of sequestration

Inside the Beltway, everybody’s talking about sequestration — and not only about whether it will happen (various supposed “high-level” sources say they are not optimistic that it will be avoided) and what it will mean, but also — it being the Beltway — which side of the aisle will pay the price.

The president is running a campaign to convince people that the results will be dire, that they should be avoided in favor of a sensible mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, and that the Republicans’ insistence that all of the savings come from cuts will lead to fiscal havoc, if...