This is Alice. In Wonderland.
That, in and of itself, is somewhat remarkable to consider - given that Washington created the sequester as a this-is-so-bad-even-we-will-have-to-act device.
The fact that President Obama, Speaker John Boehner and everyone else involved in sequestration never thought this day would come makes the post-sequester world absolutely fascinating. Starting at midnight, we are in uncharted territory; to quote Milhouse van Houten: "We're through the looking glass here, people."
The two parties are currently painting vastly different pictures of what March 2 will look like. The Obama administration has spent the last 10 days warning of potential crises for everything from air travel to first responders. Republicans have, by and large, pushed back on the idea that the cuts will have such a drastic, immediate impact and insisted the President is trying to scare people. (Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal actually used those exact words.)
Starting Monday - assuming no deal to avert or delay the sequester is made - we'll begin to get a sense for who was right. We'll also begin to get an idea for where (and if) the blame game is moving.
In the pre-sequester period (ah, those heady days), the public tended to say they would blame Congressional Republicans more than Obama for the more than trillion dollars in cuts that would go into effect (over the next decade) if the sequestration happens. Those numbers have made the White House supremely confident about their ability to win the political argument once sequestration takes effect.
Republicans have long believed, privately, that once the sequester actually happens and people begin to pay more attention (we would say "if" people begin to pay more attention) then President Obama, the head honcho of then government, would come in for more blame.
We've posited that Republicans will have a very hard time winning the sequester showdown due to a) the lack of interest for the issue among the general public and b) the disparity in popularity between Obama and Congressional GOPers. There's also a strain of thinking within the GOP that the party needs to take a strategic loss on the sequester in order to philosophically position itself to win broader battles down the line.
But, here's the reality: We've not been in this place before. No one who signed off on sequestration in 2011 thought it would ever come to pass and, as a result, there was little long-range thinking about what might happen if it did. Now that the impossible in on the verge of happening, no one really knows what comes next.
Comment: The inability to think long-term is one of the hallmarks of psychopathy. Personal, immediate gain is the only thing they are are interested in or even capable of considering. Unfortunately, it is society at large that suffers.