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\u201cHe\u2019s jumped the shark in Iraq,\u201d said a Democrat friend 10 years ago of George Bush\u2019s Iraq invasion. It stuck with me \u2013 not just because it was the first time I had heard the phrase, but also because my friend was ultimately right. At the pinnacle of his post-Afghanistan invasion power, Bush\u2019s strained campaign to take us into war in Iraq was overreach. And his undoing.<\/p>\n
Barack Obama jumped the shark this week with the sequester.<\/p>\n
In all his post-election arrogance and glory, the president played his sequester card too long. He predicted the apocalypse. And when it didn\u2019t happen, he shut schoolchildren out of White House tours. He \u201cjumped the sequester\u201d in Wall Street Journal Kim Strassel\u2019s (one of the best journalists in\u00a0D.C. \u2013 who thought Paul Gigot could be followed by someone of equal talent?) memorable phrase.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe act was designed to spark outrage against Republicans, yet the sheer pettiness of it instead provided a moment of clarity,\u201d\u00a0writes<\/a>\u00a0Strassel. \u201cAmericans might not understand the technicalities of sequester, but this was something else entirely. Was the president actually claiming there was not a single other government item\u2014not one\u2014that could be cut instead of the White House tours?\u201d<\/p>\n Most of the D.C. media \u2013 and their late night heroes Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert \u2013 were too mesmerized by Rand Paul\u2019s 13-hour drone filibuster sideshow (Obamadrones are going to\u00a0attack Arab-Americans in Dearborn<\/a>\u00a0cafeterias! Seriously, Mr. Paul?) to notice at first. But then a sixth-grade class posted a Facebook video\u00a0pleading with the president<\/a>\u00a0to let them have their tour.<\/p>\n The White House did what? Were they really so heartless as to use kids as\u00a0hostages in a political battle? They weren\u2019t going to let\u00a0them tour the people\u2019s house?<\/p>\n By Jay Carney\u2019s press conference Thursday, reporters were peppering the White House spokesman with\u00a0when-are-you-going-to-stop-beating-the-kids questions.<\/p>\n President Obama, knee deep in polling data showing his disapproval plummeting, already knew the sequester gambit had backfired. After not meeting with Republican leaders since New Years until the day of the sequester deadline, he suddenly scheduled meetings with Republicans for dinner Wednesday and lunch Thursday to try and change the narrative. \u201cIn that moment, I think, a lot of Republicans realized that the ground had shifted in this debate. The president overplayed his hand, and he knows it,\u201d a Senate aide\u00a0told the Washington Examiner\u2019s Byron York<\/a>.<\/p>\n