Government Shutdown Ends So What Was the Republican Game Plan, Anyway..?

Share

The Government shutdown ended as temporary spending bills moved their way through the House and the Senate to eventually land on the desk of President Obama, who would sign them into law.  The Government has now been funded through February of 2014… possibly a little longer.

And exactly what did the GOP accomplish?

Obama got to sound presidential:

We’ll begin reopening our government immediately and we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty from our businesses and the American people.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner admitted failure:

We fought the good fight. We just didn’t win.

And the American people came out the losers.

The apparent reason for the intransigence on the part of the House Republicans was to attempt to prevent Obamacare from activating.  The thinking was to simply not fund Government so that the healthcare law could be delayed for up to a year.

That was the thinking.

Unfortunately, in a 10 move game the GOP only thought through the first 3 moves.

What were the Republicans going to use as leverage to bring Democrats to the table to vote to delay their vaunted healthcare law?

Shame..?  Anger..?  Embarrassment..?

Nonsense there was no leverage.

The Republicans had no advantage except for trying to score some points with WWII veterans tearing down the barricades on the Mall.

Sorry… that’s not going to fly when you’re dealing with Barack Obama.

And so the GOP flopped.  The Tea Party cut its nose off to spite its face and showed deep divisions among rank-and-file Republicans.

And the polls says the Republicans ended up with egg on their face although less egg now that when Newt and Billy squared off in the 1990s:

The only bright spot is that the Republicans – despite their best attempts – may still come out ahead next year during the mid-terms as they defiantly stated their feelings as to how Obamacare would wreck the country and, now, there will be a year for it to do just that.

An article from The New Republic offers so final hope:

But whether Democrats can translate public opposition into significant gains in the House is far less clear. Unfortunately, these polls didn’t ask the “generic ballot” question about whether voters would prefer Democrats or Republicans in control of the House. But there are plenty of reasons for caution. The combination of gerrymandering, strong Republican incumbents, and weak Democratic recruitingmake it very difficult for the Democrats to take the House. And if the polling is clear on anything, it’s that President Clinton was better positioned than President Obama—yet Democrats didn’t come close to taking back the House in 1996. So although it’s clear that the public is more upset at Republicans than Democrats, it remains to be seen whether the GOP will suffer great costs.

My gut tells me the Republicans will hold the House but fall just short of re-taking the Senate… though perhaps by only a few seats.  But if Obamacare continues to be such a disaster it will be the biggest problem the Democrats face, not the Republicans.

Share