A friend jokingly suggested that I was a presidential adviser. I replied that I had given advice to every president since LBJ, and none of them had listened to it. Well, this is the advice to President Obama which he isn't going to listen to.
Play hard ball on the sequester.
People like the idea of "less federal spending." They don't like the idea of cutting a particular program. Partially for that reason, they passed the fiscal-cliff bill requiring the President to sequester -- to cut expenditures within broad limits.
Were the President to follow my advice, he would notify defense contractors early what contracts would be reduced or cancelled under the sequester. Most of them are required to notify their employees of possible layoffs in advance.
Then I would sit tight. "Those sequesters are going to take place unless a law taking account of our current needs is passed and signed. Tough! That is the law you passed."
Probably won't happen, but let the GOP hear from teh defense contractors who support them.