Barack Obama is overplaying his hand in the latest manufactured crisis of his presidency, Sequestration, and may be alienating his most important constituency of all, the media.  He and his advisors are heedless of the psychology of the media, who have been battered by downsizing and budget cuts far more draconian than the piddling 2.4% at issue in the Sequestration Crisis. The fantastical claims of apocalypse push a powerful emotional button the hearts of nearly everyone in the mainstream media.  They have already made do with less; the expense accounts are less generous, and fewer people do the same amount of work. Two or three percent cuts are nothing. They bear emotional scars from seeing their colleagues jobless, and endure the fear of further cuts coming. They are survivors, and feel a mixture of pride in their prowess and endurance, fear of what lies ahead, and maybe sometimes a little taste of survivor's guilt. A major portion of their self-concept is...(Read Full Post)