First, the quote, from the Wall Street Journal:
Said a senior administration official: “We are winning…It doesn’t really matter to us” how long the shutdown lasts “because what matters is the end result.”
Ah, those Ascended Beings and hyper-geometric messaging geniuses over at the White House. But, alas, I cannot beat Jake Tapper’s (apparent) reaction to that line:
There's a definition of "winning" being used in DC that recalls that of Charlie Sheen
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 4, 2013
Jake would undoubtedly say, if I asked him, that he meant that comment to be directed to both sides of the DC shutdown situation; and he’s one of the few reporters out there whose demurral along those lines I would accept at face value. Which does not really detract from the fact that, yeah, there’s a lot of Tiger Blood thinking going on over at the White House right now. I’m sure that’s going to end well for them…
Moe Lane (crosspost)
I think they need the Torpedo of Truth inserted in a suitable orifice at the Executive Mansion.
The problem for the WH is that they ham-handedly forced the shutdown into Shutdown Theater with the closing of open air sidewalks around some monuments, trying to close down popular privately funded (or money making) affairs like college football, and all in all basically manage the shutdown as well as they have managed to implement Obamacare.
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I was personally a bit worried when the shutdown came, but thanks to Obama “winning,” my fear have been mostly relieved.
I have to admit to going wobbly right now. Of course I don’t understand why so many people are still blaming republicans and can’t see the downright meanness of Obama on the monument issue. What does he have to do for people to see him as unlikable? He could kick a man out of a wheelchair and people would still be behind him.
I’ve run into some of the knee-jerk “Republicans are at fault!” crap from my family.
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The answer is, there’s no *thought* behind it .. it’s a visceral, emotional reaction, and it seems tied up specifically with any attempts to alter Obamacare.
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It’s completely irrational, it is literally – having discussed *at length* what a single-payer system looks like – as saying “We want our free unicorns!”. Nn concept of “cost” or “value”, no acknowledgement that free riders are a problem, no explanation for how to keep illegals out (“why would we want to do that?”) …
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They are not rational. Look at what Obama had to say about employees’ right to strike and yet they are *still* with him..? They are not processing this through a rational matrix.
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Mew
Absolutely have to share this one.
Krugman does his best to put some glorious paint on the pig that is the Obamacare exchanges to get a narrative going that “Obamacare will be fine”. However, it’s pretty obvious that he’s struggling with it. Take a little gander through the comments. Lots of Dems who apparently got estimates on the exchanges saying “Delay”. So NYT shuts down the comments at less than 1K.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/opinion/krugman-reform-turns-real.html?ref=opinion&_r=0