Top Links: One week until sequestration and the Republican strategy vs. Obama doesn't appear to be working

John Flowers,

10:51 AM on 02/22/2013

Republicans’ attempt to blame President Obama for the sequester cuts doesn’t appear to be working. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Top story: This time next Friday, Republicans may be ruing their sequestration strategy versus President Obama.

• It seems the president’s message of what sequester cuts will cost communities is working, as evidenced by local media taking notice. (Buzzfeed)
• President Obama “brings anti-sequestration message Tuesday to #Va, where quarter of economy tied to fedl spending.” (Jeff E. Shapiro)
• “Why the sequester will probably take place (at least in short term): GOP needs to show its base it’s fighting Obama.” (Mark Murray)
• “Conservatives want sequester bc they like things that make govt dysfunctional, so they can say govt is dysfunctional.” (Josh Barro)
• If sequester hits, the FAA – including air traffic controllers – would be minus about 10 percent of its workforce. (The New York Times)
• So when would people begin to notice the cuts? Difficult to say exactly. But by March 1, federal offices tell everybody who loses what; by March 7 unemployment checks will be lower; and by April 6 the Defense Department will begin layoffs and furloughs. (The New York Times)
• Here’s the complete White House fact sheet on how the cuts would affect everything from education to food safety to mental health to emergency responders. (White House)
• Here’s how you run a sequester: ‘Scrape five percent less poop’ (Wonkblog)
• The silver lining to all this sequester talk? Unlike the debt ceiling and fiscal cliff fights, this one “will probably cost ‘only’ around 700,000 jobs.” (Paul Krugman)
• And now for your Friday viewing pleasure, a video history of Paul Ryan supporting the sort of sequestration he now says is the president’s fault: