Okay, so I've actually spent time contemplating the different messages coming out of the Republican Party, and I think I can see the political calculus.
They want the cuts
Republicans really want cuts, and more than that they want big cuts. They've voted many times to keep the debt ceiling in place, and the repeatedly offer the Balanced Budget Amendment at the start of each session of Congress. If the US Senate doesn't do exactly what the House Republicans want, they will allow the debt ceiling to revert back to the cap from earlier this year.
As a matter of fact, they were reluctant in the first place to raise it in 2011, which is why they agreed to the debt ceiling deal -- they would get their cuts either way. Or as John Boehner said in 2011, "When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the white House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted. I'm pretty happy." And if you don't believe the word out of the horse's mouth, then what about his powerpoint presentation to his own group? He clearly touts the fact that, either way, Republicans will get their spending cuts!
Read Dave Weigel's timeline of what happened, and it should be very obvious: Republicans -- outside of a group of pure defense hawks (who are establishment Republicans) -- really don't want to block the sequester cuts.
But they're blaming others
As you've noticed lately, Boehner and other Republicans have been trying to pin the sequester cuts on Obama. Even Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader has gotten into the act, saying that they are not to blame for the cuts.
Boehner says that, "There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much -- we should be cutting even more -- but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous way to do it."
That's kind of irrational don't you think? Remember again that they -- Republicans -- have insisted on keeping the debt ceiling in place or having a Balanced Budget Amendment passed. Both would result if FAR HIGHER REDUCTIONS than the sequester cuts. If he didn't want the sequester cuts, then how in the world could he want a BBA or to keep the debt ceiling in place?
If you read enough Tea Party / Libertarian opinion pieces, they all conclude that deep cuts will improve the economy, no kidding.
Because they're chickens.
They don't want the blame if things go really bad this year (and next year, etc). Either they believe that in the long run (at the expense of the short-term) big cuts will save America (thus blame Democrats for the short-term pain and reap the benefits of long-term gains), or they're hedging their bets. There is a very small group of establishment defense hawks who are upset, but they are a very small group.
Either way, they're a bunch of chickens (except the defense hawks), and personally, I don't think they're very bright (including the defense hawks). The defense hawks are actually quite the hypocrites. On the one hand they warn of the nation's preparedness in the wake of defense cuts, but on the other hand the automatic cuts in entitlements means...good?
You know, if they really cared about economics they would have taken notice over the recent capitulation by the IMF on fiscal multipliers. If they did, they would have noticed that a Fed hawk turned into a dove last year. If they did, they would have noticed that, England, despite having its own currency, pursued austerity and thus we are about to see the UK plunge into an unprecedented triple-dip recession.
You know, we've seen this sort of chickening-out finger-pointing by Republicans before. The 2009 ACA (Obamacare) reduced Medicare doctor reimbursement rates, which Republicans then used as political fire against Democrats, saying that Republicans wouldn't cut mom's Medicare. This was after House Republicans overwhelmingly supported larger cuts in Medicare under both of Paul Ryan's budgets, and the continued rhetorical push by John Boehner and other Republicans arguing for deep cuts to Medicare by capping federal contributions. They want the cuts, they just don't want to be blamed for the cuts.
When Republicans insist that Obama lead, they're saying that they don't have the balls to lead; when Republicans insist that Obama stay out, they're saying that they they think they know what they're doing, and want to get full credit for it.
In the end.
They're still stuck on Benghazi. Unless the political pressure is turned up, there probably isn't much to do but wait for Republicans to see firsthand what the cuts do to the economy.
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