President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders, in their ongoing showdown with Republicans, now have a goal beyond protecting the health-care law, reopening the government and preventing the first-ever default on the nation’s debt. They are gambling that if they can hang together and remain tough to the end, they stand a chance to break a dangerous cycle that has taken hold in Washington — one of legislating through brinkmanship, which has brought the government and the financial system to the edge of disaster at least four times over the past three years. “This not just about Barack Obama. This is about the next president, whoever and whatever party it might be,” Obama told Democratic senators at a White House meeting on Thursday, according to Senate majority whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). So far, the Democrats’ strategy of refusing to meet Republican demands — which is not without risk — appears to be working. At least two well-regarded polls in the past week indicate that Republicans are bearing the brunt of the public backlash over the government shutdown. The party that controls the House is registering its lowest approval in the history of both the Gallup and Wall Street Journal-NBC News surveys. The political opportunity is not lost on Democrats, either. Even as public opinion turns increasingly negative against Washington, they are gambling that the GOP will bear the worst of the long-term damage. Read more http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...3f1954-32be-11e3-89ae-16e186e117d8_story.html
