We just received a copy of Organizing for Action’s email to their supporters. This group is the president’s restructured re-election operation, still carrying on his never-ending campaign.  Stephanie Cutter, President Obama’s former Deputy Campaign Manager, warns the reader that there is a good chance you, yes YOU, will be “directly affected by the disastrous budget cuts scheduled to take place Friday.” She provides a list of horribles by saying, “Let this sink in: Some members of Congress are so unwilling to compromise that we all need to prepare ourselves for job layoffs, an increased risk of foodborne illnesses, delayed flights, fewer teachers and less access to early education, and a longer wait for a cure for many diseases - plus, some economists estimate that as many as 1.4 million private sector jobs could be lost.” But more and more articles are being written that this angst is way, way overblown.  For sheer pleasure, take a look at February 27, 2013 Express, the Washington Post’s tabloid magazine.  The front page is hysterical, entirely suitable for framing.  In mock movie poster style, President Obama appears with a maniacal look and the headline shrieks, “The Sequester! It’s coming.  And it won’t be pleasant.  But the spending cuts may not be quite as horrific as politicians would have us believe.” The article states, “there’s a whiff of the familiar in all the foreboding, harking back to the mid-1990s partial government shutdown, when officials said old people would go hungry, illegal immigrants would have the run of the land and veterans would go without meals.  It didn’t happen.” That’s the key, it didn’t happen.  In the February 27, 2013 Wall Street Journal op-ed, former-Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas) states, “The president's response to the sequester demonstrates how out of touch he is with the real world of working families.  Even after the sequester, the federal government will spend $15 billion more than it did last year, and 30 percent more than it spent in 2007.  Government spending on nondefense discretionary programs will be 19.2 percent higher and spending on defense will be 13.8 percent higher than it was in 2007.” Memo to Stephanie Cutter -- Let THAT sink in! Speaking of Ms. Cutter, she asks Organizing for Action’s supporters to share their sequester story.  Readers of Swineline, have some fun with that.