Jon McHenry in The Washington Times on the politics for Republicans of a government shutdown:
“The president has the microphone, and he generally has a sympathetic press that’s going to echo what he says,” said Jon McHenry, vice president of North Star Strategies, a Republican polling firm. “There’s a lot of peril for Republicans in this.”
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And while there is little individual risk for those conservative lawmakers in pushing a shutdown, Mr. McHenry said there is collective risk for the House GOP’s majority if a public backlash hurts moderate Republicans in swing districts.
“At some point you have to decide if you want to be a Republican in the minority,” Mr. McHenry said. “Safe as your seat might be, that doesn’t mean you that guaranteed a majority going forward. A lot of those folks haven’t been in the minority. You can’t stop Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi with 200 Republicans in the House and 40 Republicans in the Senate.”
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Mr. McHenry said that although Mr. Obama’s job-approval ratings are poor, and he isn’t leading on the budget crisis, tea party conservatives are inadvertently strengthening his position.
“He hasn’t done anything to distinguish himself by trying to lead on this issue,” Mr. McHenry said. “The president seems to have exhausted his ideas for leading the country. But by pushing this shutdown possibility as far as it’s gone, the Republicans have pushed the president to the one talking point he has left — railing against Republicans.”
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