Monday's speedy and complete cave-in by Senate Democrats reopened the government and rewarded the president's "now you see it, now you don't" deal-making style, in return for nothing they didn't have before the shutdown began. They also managed to quell the admiration of their own base and treat the cheering section for the other team to a round of Red Bull.
As the Republican National Committee taunted in an email, "What was the point?" This was the parenting equivalent of telling your child he's grounded for a month, then relenting minutes later.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer began the remarks in which he tried to put the best possible face on his fizzle this way: "Now today," he said, taking a swig of water, "we drink seltzer." He was only clearing his throat, rhetorically speaking, but champagne was certainly not in order. And along with his fizzy water, the senator was enjoying a big plate of undercooked crow.
"The great deal-making president sat on the sidelines" over the weekend, Schumer complained. Which was true, but also of no consequence.
The agreement funds the government through Feb. 8 and reauthorizes the Children's Health Insurance Program, which could and should have been done long ago. In return, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he'll take up immigration issues, including the matter of what to do about the some 700,000 immigrants brought here as children and given temporary work visas under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But he'd said that before the shutdown.
Polling had signaled that the public was somewhat more likely to blame Republicans than Democrats for the shutdown. Still, Democrats feared the argument that they'd put military funding at risk.
Democrats were even more terrified by another Republican talking point, that Democrats are more interested in protecting newcomers than native-born Americans. And strictly on the politics of "identity politics," those caving Democratic centrists had a point.
Yes, three-quarters of those surveyed want those taxpaying, job-holding Dreamers to stay here -- and so do two-thirds of Trump voters. But the public saw keeping the government open as a far more important issue. The real problem now is not political, but human, since there is no guarantee that DACA protections will be extended.
McConnell said it's his "intention," if there's no immigration agreement by February 8, to hold an up-or-down vote on DACA.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has not even gone that far, and at the moment, it looks like Dreamers will only have a future in this country if Donald Trump says they do.
He's already been on all sides of the issue, and after Democrats gave in, he clarified nothing by promising to "make a long-term deal on immigration if and only if it's good for our country."
No wonder Schumer says negotiating with the president is like negotiating with Jello. But on Monday, Jello won.
Commentary on 01/25/2018