Dems Should Reopen the Government

Americans are becoming more frustrated with the ongoing federal government shutdown. But while each party labors to cast all the blame on the other one, the most recent poll finds that most people blame them both.

An AP/NORC poll that was reported this morning shows that 60% of Americans blame Trump and the Republicans while 54% blame the Democrats. So, the strategy Democrats are employing to hammer on health care as the reason they’re fighting isn’t gaining much traction. That six percent edge isn’t worth it.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the Democrats were right not to bail out the GOP this time. And I suppose health care was as good as any issue to fight on. But there’s enough evidence now that this isn’t resulting in much benefit for them. One problem is that Democrats always think that spending a lot of money will be rewarded by those who benefit. So when they had all the power they poured hundreds of billions of dollars into red districts. How did that work out for them?

But if the Democrats were to accept some compromise now from the Republicans and vote to end the shutdown they might get some credit for reopening the government and being the adults in the room. After all, Republicans — who control everything — are assigning 100% of the blame for the shutdown on the minority Democrats. I assume then that if the Democrats vote to reopen the government the GOP will rush to give them 100% of the credit for that. What? No?

Of course they’ll get no kind words out of the GOP, but that won’t matter if the public credits them for being the responsible party, the one that saved them some time at the airport. It seems that the shutdown has gone on long enough so that the politics have switched. Now the party that moves first to reopen will get the political benefit — such as it is. I doubt any bump for either party will last very long, but the Dems need everything they can get heading into next year’s mid-terms. Even a point or two of residual goodwill will matter next November.

The big impediment to this is the hard-left and the true believer Democrat activist class. They’re frustrated that their party isn’t doing more… of something or other. Maybe that group will blow off some steam this weekend at their “No Kings” rallies. But more likely the rallies will urge the party to stay the course on the shutdown — another reason that I think they’ll be counterproductive.

The smart thing for the Democrats to do at this point is to claim the credit for getting things back to normal. As is so often the case, the activist class is likely to prevent them from doing the smart thing.

That’s it for the week. I won’t be messing with the King this weekend. Instead I’ll be enjoying the lonely back roads of the southwest Wisconsin art tour.