President Obama did not cause the sequestrian. Between 30 and 80 Republicans in the House (depending who's doing the counting) did it by trying to attach a tax cut to a health care bill. Obama refused to go along with it. That is not causing it.

Mike, sorry to argue, but the history of sequestration is clear - the idea originated in the White House.

Earlier this year, Gene Sperling, Jack Lew, and Jay Carney all admitted/acknowledged that the idea of sequestration initially came from the White House.

Barack Obama was 100% incorrect during the presidential debates that sequestration was something that Congress/Republicans came up with. (It is true that many Republicans were subsequently in favor of it, but the original idea came from the White House.) Whether it was a case of a total memory lapse on Obama's part or something more deceptive, I don't know.

What made for bizarre political theater was watching the Administration exaggerate the effects of the sequester.

There's a context here that cannot be avoided. Barack Obama consistently takes specific actions knowing it will set a chain of events that eventually allows him to rip the Republican party in the press. He knew sequestration and the government shutdown would allow him to score points because he knew how the Republican party would react. Basically, this is political sucker-punching. (Although now, it's clearly blown up in his face).