Most sane people are taking a breather from immersion in politics right now. We're past an election season, the primary battle is in suspended animation, hard news is dominating, as Nate Silver points out. So what if a government shutdown comes at voters like a bolt from the blue at the same time Paul Ryan is marking up his budget plan? Nate notes:
[M]ost voters are not expecting a shutdown, so if one were to occur, the political winds could go from being nearly still to gale-force in a hurry. Mr. Ryan’s proposal covers fiscal year 2012 — not 2011 — so it has nothing to do with the shutdown in a statutory way. But voters could very easily conflate the two, particularly if his proposal is voted on in the House while a shutdown is under way.
Does that mean Democrats ought to be drawing more attention to it? Perhaps, but getting the attention of a voter who is disengaged from politics is no easier than getting the attention of a teenager who is playing with an Xbox. Then again, a shutdown might be the equivalent of the only worthwhile solution: pulling the power cord.
It seems to me to be politically suicidal to shut the government down over relatively trivial sums given the much larger fiscal crisis that looms. But it also seems to me that Boehner has little choice but to placate the Tea Party. And placate them he will. What that might mean for raising the debt ceiling I do not know but fear the worst. And in this battle, voters are already more primed to associate the president with a genuine will to compromise than the GOP.
The Dish 