Evan Thomas: Sequester 'A Failure of Leadership' By Obama - 'He's Just Playing Politics'

February 23rd, 2013 2:23 PM

Another liberal media member has broken ranks and pointed the finger of blame for the looming budget sequester on Barack Obama.

After the Washington Post's Bob Woodward correctly wrote Friday that sequestration was indeed the Obama administration's idea in 2011, former Newsweek editor Evan Thomas hours later said on PBS's Inside Washington this whole standoff is "a failure of leadership by the White House...[Obama's] just playing politics" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

GORDON PETERSON, HOST: If sequestration was never meant to be implemented, as Jay Carney says, why was it implemented Evan?

EVAN THOMAS, FORMER NEWSWEEK EDITOR: Because it’s a failure of leadership by the White House. You know, the President’s the one guy who can step above all this stuff and he’s just playing politics.

A few minutes later, Thomas elaborated:

PETERSON: We just heard Dr. Rand Paul say the sequestration was the President’s idea. Wasn’t it?

THOMAS: Who cares whose idea it was? It was a bad idea on both sides. But it is the President’s responsibility. This is so typical of Washington: who to blame blame. It’s your fault. No, it’s your fault. It is the President’s responsibility far more than anybody else, particularly a second-term president who just won re-election. It’s his responsibility to rise above this nonsense. The people expect that of him and he’s not doing it.

And a few minutes later:

THOMAS: He doesn’t even seem to be worried about it. There’s no sense of emergency that I can tell. They’re kind of blithe about the whole thing. The political hacks are so in charge that they only see this in terms of political advantage. They’re not thinking about the country at all. There’s no, there’s no sense from the White House that they’re worried about this.


Two prominent media members breaking ranks in one day?

Is this lie being perpretrated by the White House so huge that not only can't some of Obama's supporters in the press repeat it, they're actually feeling the need to expose it?

Where were these guilty consciences before Election Day?