Let’s start with this fact: No one in Washington — not President Obama, not House Republicans, not Senate Democrats — looks good as the federal government shutdown drags on.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted last week showed that 41 percent of Americans approved of how President Obama was handling the shutdown — and that middling rating was significantly better than where congressional Democrats (34 percent approval) and congressional Republicans (26 percent) stood in the survey. More than one in four (27 percent) said they disapproved of Obama, Democrats and Republicans.
Chris Cillizza
Chris Cillizza is founder and editor of The Fix, a leading blog on state and national politics. He is the author of The Gospel According to the Fix: An Insider’s Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics and an MSNBC contributor and political analyst. He also regularly appears on NBC and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show. He joined The Post in 2005 and was named one of the top 50 journalists by Washingtonian in 2009.
Archive
More from PostPolitics
Sean Sullivan
You know there's a shutdown but you want to know more? You've come to the right place!
Scott Clement
At the end of week one, Republicans are coming in for more blame.
Get the latest news on the budget fight and a possible government shutdown in this daily newsletter.
LATEST UPDATES | What you need to know about the new health-care law as it begins to take effect.
Read more
Given those numbers, it’s hard to say there are any winners — politically speaking — from the first week of the shutdown. More like losers and not-quite losers. Below we pick a few of each.
(For those who wonder how we can pick the bad and the even worse at a moment like this, remember that both a White House aide and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) were caught talking about “winning” the government shutdown over the last week. Politics infects everything — and we mean everything.)
Not-quite losers
A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted last week showed that 41 percent of Americans approved of how President Obama was handling the shutdown — and that middling rating was significantly better than where congressional Democrats (34 percent approval) and congressional Republicans (26 percent) stood in the survey. More than one in four (27 percent) said they disapproved of Obama, Democrats and Republicans.
Chris Cillizza
Chris Cillizza is founder and editor of The Fix, a leading blog on state and national politics. He is the author of The Gospel According to the Fix: An Insider’s Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics and an MSNBC contributor and political analyst. He also regularly appears on NBC and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show. He joined The Post in 2005 and was named one of the top 50 journalists by Washingtonian in 2009.
Archive
More from PostPolitics
Sean Sullivan You know there's a shutdown but you want to know more? You've come to the right place!
Scott Clement At the end of week one, Republicans are coming in for more blame.
Get the latest news on the budget fight and a possible government shutdown in this daily newsletter.LATEST UPDATES | What you need to know about the new health-care law as it begins to take effect.Read more
Given those numbers, it’s hard to say there are any winners — politically speaking — from the first week of the shutdown. More like losers and not-quite losers. Below we pick a few of each.
(For those who wonder how we can pick the bad and the even worse at a moment like this, remember that both a White House aide and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) were caught talking about “winning” the government shutdown over the last week. Politics infects everything — and we mean everything.)
Not-quite losers