Democrats have been salivating at the idea of a government shutdown in about the week, should an agreement not be reached for a continuing resolution for the rest of the current fiscal year. They believe that a repeat of 1995 is in the making.
In 1995, as can be recalled, a budget shutdown was forced over the desire of congressional Republicans to rein in the growth of Medicare and Medicaid spending. The Republicans got blamed for the shutdown and had to, at least for the time being, cave in. Eventually and quietly, some spending restraint had been agreed to.
It is understandable, therefore, that Senator Chuck Schumer was conspiring (and caught on tape doing so) with fellow Senate Democrats to get the sound bytes right. The word "extreme" is their favorite adjective, as in "extreme Tea party" or "extreme Republican spending cuts," but not "extreme spending" or "extreme deficits."
The irrepressible Howard Dean, former presidential candidate, former Vermont governor, and former chairman of the DNC, was even more gleeful about the prospect of a government shutdown and what can be done to those rascally Republicans and their evil Tea Party masters as a result.
The problem is that reality may be about to intrude in this happy scenario. According to a new Rasmussen Poll, 57 percent of polled voters suggest that a government shutdown would be preferred to not doing the deep spending cuts necessary to get the federal budget on its way toward balance. Only 31 percent believe that avoiding a shutdown is more important.
What may be happening is the political equivalent of the Charge of the Light Brigade or the assault by George Armstrong Custer on Little Big Horn. If Schumer's and Dean's view of the political situation prevails and the Democrats force a government shutdown, they will very likely find themselves taking the blame for the consequences.
For one thing, both the political and media landscapes are different than they were in 1995. The monolithic liberal media has competition from cable news, talk radio, and the Internet. Also, the deficit crisis is so monumental, the consequences of not addressing it so dire, that people finding themselves on the wrong side of the issue are likely to suffer grievously.
After all, what profits a nation that can fund cowboy poets at the cost of being a nation?
If the Democrats have not learned their lesson in 2010, there will be no end to the lesson in 2012.
Sources: On a Senate Call, a Glimpse of Marching Orders, Jennifer Steinhauer, New York Times, March 29, 2011
Howard Dean: Democrats Should Be 'Quietly Rooting' for Shutdown, Alex Roarty, National Journal, March 29, 2011
57% Okay With Government Shutdown If It Leads to Deeper Budget Cuts, Rasmussen Reports, April 1, 2011
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