He's quite a brilliant fellow.

His strategy isn't incorrect from a political perspective. If he does the "right thing" and cuts the budget by 10% (as a minimum), he'll probably cause some pain to the economy and the special interest groups will crucify him. Every single DB who gets his funds cut will cry about how terrible the cut will be to their program and how folks will literally be starving in the streets.

In the short term (for the next 20 years), his approval ratings would go down the toilet. He really doesn't want such a legacy as he's not a strong individual who will do the right thing...........consequences be damned.

He's trying to walk a tightrope by maintaining most of the expenses to prevent damage to his legacy and short term damage to the economy if the government does a bit of a layoff (which it clearly needs to do).