Matt has seen the future, and it's the past:
To me, this just sounds like the next hostage fight. Full expiration of the Bush tax cuts was unacceptable to many Republicans and Democrats alike. So the GOP played its hand aggressively, and Democrats backed down. Failure to raise the debt ceiling was unacceptable to many Republicans and Democrats alike. So the GOP played its hand aggressive, and Democrats backed down. If pulling the sequestration trigger is unacceptable to many Republicans and Democrats alike, then why won't Republicans simply play the same game of bluff and hardball that's worked for them in the past? What new trick is up Obama's sleeve to change the basic hostage dynamic? I don't think it's inconceivable that the administration could answer that question in a plausible way, but I don't think anything they put out yesterday clearly offered such an answer.