U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday called automatic spending cuts that were to take effect later in the day “dumb, arbitrary,â€‌ and warned that they would begin hurting the middle class and the overall U.S. economy. At a White House news conference after talks with congressional leaders, Obama blamed Republican lawmakers for failing to prevent the spending cuts, known as a sequester. He said he hoped that Republicans, after hearing complaints from their constituents about the impacts of the cuts, will return to negotiations, but he said that might take weeks or months.