Maybe the administration is just too anxious to inflict pain in the American people. First the release of illegal immigrant criminals, before the cuts have even happened. This follows on the heels of Education Secretary Duncan's statement on Face the Nation where he tried to scare parents by saying that "There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices that they can't come back this fall..."

But when challenged yesterday by the press, Duncan backtracked:

When he was pressed in a White House briefing Wednesday to come up with an example, Duncan named a single county in West Virginia and acknowledged, "whether it's all sequester-related, I don't know."

And, as it turns out, it isn't.

Officials in Kanawha County, West Virginia say that the "transfer notices" sent to at least 104 educators had more to do with a separate matter that involves a change in the way West Virginia allocates federal dollars designated for poor children.

The transfer notices are required by state law and give teachers a warning that they may be moved to a different position next school year. They don't necessarily mean a teacher has been laid off, said Pam Padon, director of federal programs and Title 1 for the Kanawha County public schools. "It's not like we're cutting people's jobs at this point."

She said those 104 notices will ultimately result in the elimination of about five to six teaching jobs, which were likely to be cut regardless of the sequester.

"The major impact is not so much sequestration," she said. "Those five or six jobs would already be gone regardless of sequestration."

This is getting silly. And it is turning into a political disaster for Obama.