Superpower with a Blocked Checking Account

The best commentary on the government shutdown came from Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill. After the budget was rejected by the House of Representatives, she said, “It’s very hard from a distance to figure out who has lost their minds, one party, the other party, all of us, the president.”

Obama, to put it mildly, reacted atypically, considering ancient tradition. A directly elected president, unlike Angela Merkel or her European counterparts, isn’t the leader of a particular political party, but rather the leader of all Americans.

That’s why every president before him negotiated and struck bargains with the opposition, especially if the opposition controlled the Senate or the House of Representatives — which the Republicans now do. Obama’s stubbornness, along with a dash of condescension, explains why Republicans are now enraged.

On the other hand, anger is never a good adviser in politics. In an attempt to scrap Obama’s signature accomplishment, universal health insurance, the Republicans fired a torpedo aimed directly at the entire ship of state. Without a budget, the government is unable to meet its obligations.

For the time being, only national park rangers, tax auditors and museum guards have been furloughed, just one-third of the government workforce. Stock markets continue to react sedately since the global losses have yet to reach 1 percent. But the longer the shutdown continues, the more 320 million Americans will begin feeling the effects. Already, two-thirds of Americans are of the opinion that a shutdown isn’t the right way to try to kill Obamacare.

Angry voters will soon begin ramping up the pressure on their Republican representatives; the unified front the naysayers now have will begin to crumble. Obama knows this and, as a result, he remains cool. After all, he’s got the larger megaphone.

The bottom line is, the Republicans know that as well. They will have to try to end the shutdown without losing too much face. They’ll do that under the motto, “Tomorrow is another day.” When it comes to that point, it will be Obama’s job to pull out all the stops in discrediting the Republicans with doomsday predictions about the American economy.

Yesterday, a new Obama emerged, one who for the first time reached out to the opposition. He invited the most important opposition figures to engage in talks: Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell — whom Obama ignored for the first 18 months of his presidency — along with their Democratic colleagues, Nancy Pelosi of the House and Harry Reid from the Senate.

The opposition reacted immediately, although pointedly and ambiguously, saying the Republicans were pleased that Obama had finally agreed that his refusal to negotiate wasn’t justifiable and that it was obvious that the meeting wouldn’t take place if it weren’t an offer to engage in serious negotiations. But it became rapidly clear that the 90-minute meeting was just another chapter in an old history of disagreements.

The upshot is that the president holds the better hand in this game and his opponents won’t forgive him for forcing them to fold.