AS THE MIDNIGHT hour loomed, the Shutdown Standoff continued and the danger mounted hour by hour. The political cowpokes were still ambling along toward the OK Corral, the women and children huddling behind closed doors, and law-abidin’ citizens just shaking their heads in dismay.

Like the strong non-leader he is, the president was defending Obamacare even as its wobbly wheels threatened to come off, the Senate simply re-passed it, and the House was sticking with its refusal to approve a budget that didn’t delay it-at least until some emergency repairs could be made over the next year. In short, if you will forgive our bowdlerism of the military slang, it was Situation Normal All Fouled Up in the nation’s capital.

A chagrined America could only stand by and watch the tragicomedy unfold, again. For citizens could look up and down, left and right, as the hours passed and the minutes ticked away, and still not see a trace of reason, compromise, negotiation, or any of the other elements that make a supposed republic work.

It was the screenplay of High Noon taking place in real time, only the deadline, fittingly enough, was darkest midnight. Gary Cooper, where are you when you’re most needed?

Our president might negotiate with Teheran’s mullahs, or the Butcher of Damascus, but some folks were clearly beyond the pale, namely, John Boehner and his House Republicans. And so things stood at press time, when there seemed no help but prayer.

Not that any of these types in Washington are listening, but would it be so bad if both sides, or all three sides, or maybe more depending on how many you can spot, would agree to meet halfway? Or any way short of shutting down the government of the United States?

If the White House and the majority party in the Senate won’t accept a one year delay for Obamacare, how about six months? And surely no one serious, or even rational, could fail to see what a mistake passing that destructive tax on medical devices was, what with its potential for harming both American companies and patients, not to mention scientific research in this country in general.

Surely even Democrats can agree to sacrifice that loser of a tax. And the Republican caucus in the House should take the progress it can get, and pass that budget. Instead of cutting its own political throat, because you know who’ll get blamed if the federal government shuts down.

So how about it, ladies and gentlemen, why not act like it? Accept half a loaf and fight another day. Or would that be unspeakably sensible?

Editorial, Pages 14 on 10/01/2013