Call Me Pessimistic, But...

Like I told my wife last night, "The government may be shut down, but Old Faithful is still open for business."

But seriously, folks...

I wonder if the government shutdown isn't some master plan orchestrated by the evil geniuses of the left. In one fell swoop they have reversed the slump in obama's approval ratings and weakened the GOPs chances of picking up seats in the 2014 elections.

Is it Election 2012 déjà vu as the government shutdown battle escalates?

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Obama's job performance. Forty-seven percent (47%) disapprove ... The president’s job approval ratings continue to improve and now mark his best showing since mid-April.

Democrats have now extended their lead over Republicans to four points – 42% to 38% - in the latest Generic Congressional Ballot. This is their biggest lead and highest level of support since mid-April.

As one commentator puts it:

Ironically, the Obamacare exchanges are launching despite the shutdown (just as Sen. Coburn said they would). What's more, if the government shutdown wasn't taking up all the space, the front page of every major daily in the country would have had an above-the-fold story on how the Obamacare exchanges aren't actually working as planned because of software and other tech problems.

So the score is: conservatives didn't manage to stop Obamacare. Conservatives are oddly celebrating a shutdown they claimed they did not want. The GOP is getting blamed. Oh, and how are voters looking at this? A new Quinnipiac poll out this morning finds voters opposed 72%–22% to Congress shutting down the fed govt to block implementation of Obamacare.

Brilliant work. And, of course, we still have the eventual GOP surrender to look forward to, wherein the ultimate pointlessness of this strategy is revealed for all to see.

Given these poll results, I don't see the democrats giving in. It's far more likely that Boehner and the House will cave and pass some sort of funding bill without any changes to obamacare.

This is not about whether or not obamacare is a good law. It's not. It's a terrible piece of legislation for many reasons, from moral to practical. But that doesn't matter now. The republicans are facing the political fallout from a misguided and futile effort to link the repeal or defunding of obamacare to keeping the federal government up and running, warts and all.

The GOP resistance is futile. Its inevitable defeat will be total and embarrassing.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it...