memeorandum: Obama calms fears over Supreme Court action on voting rights (Justin Sink/The Hill)

1:55 PM ET, February 22, 2013

Top Items:

Is Obama overplaying sequester hand? — President Barack Obama's greatest adversary in the latest budget battle isn't the Republican leadership in Congress — it's his confidence in his own ability to force a win. — He has been so certain of his campaign skills that he didn't open a line …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, CNN, NationalJournal.com, The Hill, Right Wing News, Hot Air, The Democratic Daily, Taylor Marsh and Politico

David Brooks / New York Times:

The D.C. Dubstep — On July 26, 2011, Jack Lew, then the White House budget director, went to Harry Reid's office for a budget strategy session. According to Bob Woodward's book, “The Price of Politics,” Lew told the Senate majority leader that they had come up with a trigger idea to force a budget deal.

Discussion: Wonkblog, The Atlantic Online, American Prospect, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, Crooks and Liars, The Plum Line, Hullabaloo, New York Magazine, The Maddow Blog, Right Turn, The Daily Caller, Prairie Weather, Gawker and The Hill

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Noonan: Government by Freakout — Obama's scare tactics aren't much of a long-term strategy. — The president's sequester strategy is like Howard Beale in “Network”: “Woe is us. . . . And woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!” — It is always cliffs, ceilings and looming catastrophes with Barack Obama.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ed Driscoll and No More Mister Nice Blog

White House Memo / New York Times:
For Obama and Team, Calm, Not Crisis, in Latest Fiscal Battle

Discussion: The Week, The Reaction and The Plum Line

Patrick O'Connor / Wall Street Journal:
The GOP Splits Over Pressure to Slash Defense Budget

Discussion: Right Turn and The Maddow Blog

Kevin Bohn / CNN:
Obama supporters launch ad campaign to push gun proposals

Discussion: Politico

Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:

As Sequester Deadline Looms, Little Support for Cutting Most Programs — OVERVIEW — As the March 1 deadline for a possible budget sequester approaches, a new national survey finds limited public support for reducing spending for a range of specific programs, including defense, entitlements, education and health care.

Discussion: The Fix, The Week, CNN, Firedoglake and Politico

New York Times:

Why Taxes Have to Go Up — Democrats and Republicans remain at odds on how to avoid a round of budget cuts so deep and arbitrary that to allow them now could push the economy back into recession. The cuts, known as a sequester, will kick in March 1 unless Republicans agree to President Obama's demand …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, NewsBusters blogs and AEIdeas

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Sequester of Fools

Discussion: TIME, Politico and Prairie Weather

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Bloomberg:
Americans Back Spending-Cut Delay Amid Budget-Deal Push

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Associated Press, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Wire, news@JAMA, CNN and Campaign for America's Future

Jane Mayer / News Desk:

Is Senator Ted Cruz our new McCarthy? — Last week, Texas Senator Ted Cruz's prosecutorial style of questioning Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee for Defense Secretary, came so close to innuendo that it raised eyebrows in Congress, even among his Republican colleagues.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Daily Kos, A plain blog about politics, Taegan Goddard's …, Pressing Issues and Althouse

Henry J. Gomez / Plain Dealer:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tells Cuyahoga County GOP it's time for new generation of leaders

Discussion: NBCNews.com and The Hill

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

Ann Coulter Battles Stossel, Calls Libertarians ‘Pussies,’ And Gets Booed By Room Full Of Students — What do you get when you invite outspoken conservative firebrand Ann Coulter to debate outspoken libertarian John Stossel in front of an audience of 1,000+ libertarian students? — Fireworks, that's what.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Crooks and Liars, Salon, Hot Air, The Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Oscar Predictions, Election-Style — Twice before, in 2009 and 2011, I sought to predict the Academy Award winners in six major categories based on a mix of statistical factors. My track record? Nine correct picks in 12 tries, for a 75 percent success rate.

Discussion: Pressing Issues and Towleroad News #gay

Jason Kurtz / Piers Morgan:
Jimmy Carter on “Argo”: “It's a great drama, and I hope it gets the Academy Award for best film …

Discussion: Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

Rush Limbaugh:

For the First Time in My Life, I Am Ashamed of My Country — RUSH: To be watching all of this, to be treated like this, to have our common sense and intelligence insulted the way it's being insulted? It just makes me ashamed... Panic here, fear there: Crisis, destruction, no meat inspection …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, KDVR.com, Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and BuzzFeed

Charlie Spiering / Washington Examiner:
Did Rush Limbaugh just launch a Tea Party revival effort?

Discussion: Washington Monthly

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:

Aurora Victim's Mom Calls McCain Town Hall ‘Appalling’ — The mother of a young man killed in the Aurora, Colo. movie theater massacre told TPM on Thursday she was appalled at the way Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) handled her question about an assault weapons ban at a town hall event in Phoenix.

Discussion: Daily Kos

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:
Crowd Cheers After McCain Tells Aurora Victim's Mother She Needs ‘Straight Talk’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Washington Free Beacon, Prairie Weather, Balloon Juice, Mediaite, The Week, Hot Air, The Raw Story, KASW-TV and PoliticusUSA

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama calms fears over Supreme Court action on voting rights — President Obama said people won't lose the right to vote if the Supreme Court strikes down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. — Speaking Thursday to “The Black Eagle” radio show, Obama said listeners shouldn't worry …

Discussion: CNN and Talking Points Memo

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
How The Voting Rights Act, Now In Danger, Came To Pass And Shaped History

Discussion: msnbc.com

Donovan Slack / Politico:

Obama meets with African American leaders — President Obama dropped in on a meeting with African American leaders at the White House Thursday to discuss his “plan to strengthen the economy for the middle class and continue to build ladders of opportunity for those striving to get there,” the White House said.

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Weasel Zippers

Justin Sink / Ballot Box:

Colbert hopes jokes don't ‘sully’ sister's congressional bid — Comedian Stephen Colbert said Thursday that he hopes his late-night television persona parodying conservative talk-show hosts doesn't “sully” his sister's congressional bid in South Carolina's first district.

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Megan McArdle / Asymmetrical Information:

America's New Mandarins — The paths to power and success are narrowing. So is the worldview of the powerful. — Yesterday, I wrote about the silliness of requiring a file clerk to have a college degree. This morning, a friend sent me the following note about the narrowing of opportunity in modern America:

Discussion: The American Mind and Mother Jones

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Can Democrats Mess With Texas in 2016? — AUSTIN, Texas — From its modest headquarters on the first floor of a local union building about five miles from the State Capitol, the Democratic Party of Texas is trying to turn demographics into destiny. — With white, non-Hispanic voters …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Rightnewz, Mediaite and Booman Tribune

John Hooper / Guardian:

Papal resignation linked to inquiry into ‘Vatican gay officials’, says paper — Pope's staff decline to confirm or deny La Repubblica claims linking ‘Vatileaks’ affair and discovery of ‘blackmailed gay clergy’ — A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI …

Discussion: Wonkette, The Dish, Outside the Beltway and The Hinterland Gazette

Sam Baker / The Hill:

Hikes in health insurance premiums fall; administration credits healthcare law — The number of double-digit hikes to health insurance premiums has fallen dramatically because of President Obama's healthcare law, the Health and Human Services Department said Friday.

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Pelosi to GOP: You oppose minimum wage hike at your peril — As I reported here yesterday, Democrats are drawing up plans to run hard on Obama's proposal to raise minimum wage in the 2014 Congressional elections. What few people remember is that there's precedent for this …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, The Daily Caller and Hot Air