WHO WANTS A SHUTDOWN? Here is a hint: his name starts with the letter "O" and ends with "BAMA".

Who really wants a shutdown? It's the guy whose starting negotiating position is that he won't negotiate.

Republicans are voting to keep the government open, some Democrats agree, and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the gang are trying to stop them while demanding a “clean” CR funding Obamacare.

Well, guess what? All federal government funding originates in the House.

That means the House decides what money is spent and what money isn’t.

If the House doesn’t support Obamacare, there is no Obamacare.

That’s not partisan politics, it’s institutional politics. It’s called the separation of powers, and it is PRECISELY how the Founders intended the country to work. This is what happens when you jam an unpopular law creating a new federal bureaucracy through Congress on a straight party-line vote. It was a stupid thing for Obama, Pelosi and Reid to do, it was an abuse of power for them to do it and the price to be paid is the loss of the Congressional body which is in control of enacting that law through funding.

The House is exercising its constitutional prerogative in deciding what is to be funded and what is not to be funded. It is the Senate and the president who are to blame for shutting down the government. And we’re now seeing that the Senate and the president are shutting down the government in order to continue forcing on the public something the market would kill with gusto were it subject to market forces. That is no position to be in.

It’s a political problem for Obama and Reid which will only be solved if the Republicans lose their nerve.

Another thing to remember: the longer the shutdown goes on, the more pressure Democrats will feel.

The federal bureaucracy is the Democrat Party. And the Democrat Party is the federal bureaucracy.

When enough bureaucrats demand that Obama negotiate with a separate but equal branch of government, he'll negotiate. Until then, Republicans can and should stand firm.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.