(Day 10. Note: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are traveling days, so my Blog entries may run behind the news out of D. C.)
The end of this hostage situation may be close. But make no mistake. When it comes it won’t be because Republicans have seen the error of their ways. It will be because they have seen their fall in the polls.
There is solace in the fact that their disapproval rating has hit a historic low. Among their many miscalculations, one is their failure to understand that as Americans we tolerate extremism, but in the long run we do not embrace it.
That fact also gives us hope that when the shutdown is over and the debt ceiling has been raised, the power of the tea party conservatives will have been weakened considerably, at least in determining legislation.
That doesn’t mean Republicans will begin trying to be constructive instead of simply opposing anything President Obama proposes. But it will mean voters will be less likely to support their childish obstructionism.
