Federal government shutdown shows we really likely are that shallow

The federal government came to a “shut down” during a weekend, meaning most people likely haven’t noticed one bit of difference. It could be come Monday that things start being impacted publicly.

TRUMP: Blame? Or praise?

Although I have to admit, my initial reaction to learning our Congress is ideological enough to be stubborn and let daily government activity come to a halt was to check on how this would impact U.S. Postal Service delivery. I get paychecks in the mail.

YES, MAIL DELIVERY is one of the so-called essential services that will continue even if the United States government is supposed to be closed for the duration.

But what is going to happen, particularly since President Donald Trump on Sunday engaged in political trash talk – saying he thinks Republicans ought to go ahead and just stick it to their Democratic Party opposition. Change the rules that give minority parties some say and make it impossible for the GOP majority to just ramrod their desires through into public policy.

Which is something they could easily do. In fact, it is the reason that Democrats say Republicans deserve full blame for any disruption of government activity. How can a Republican president and Republican-dominated Congress blame somebody else for nothing happening?

Personally, I have long realized how petty partisan and ideologue leaning government officials can be. I’m fully aware that for some government officials, being able to say they dumped on Democrats would be the very purpose of government’s existence.

SO ON SATURDAY, when my father asked me whether I thought the government would really shut down and officials would really be so hard-core hostile toward immigration policy and the DACA kids, I politely told him that “Yes” they could.

While deep-down, I had to hold back a temptation to laugh in his face and mock his naivete.

Keep in mind that my father is one of the normal people; as in those who don’t really pay much attention to daily government activity and procedure, and I suspect deep down thinks I’m a tad ridiculous for giving it much thought myself.

The focal point of how partisan politics does impact our daily lives

I don’t doubt many people are like that, and they’re the ones who most likely are watching the activity taking place out of the District of Columbia these days and wondering to themselves, “Why?”

IT’S BECAUSE WE have those people who are determined to muck up the process that might allow for a more sensible federal immigration policy to move forth.

Specifically, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that Trump wants to see wither away in a couple of months. But he has oh, so generously offered to let something remain in place IF Democrats give him one of his longest-running pieces of political rhetoric – the barricade built along the U.S./Mexico border.

Democratic officials in Congress will never do anything to support that concept. They’re using the powers provided to a minority party to stall a vote from being taken in Congress toward funding that would keep the government’s operations from occurring.

Democrats don’t have the power to pass anything. They can merely thwart; just as Republicans did for years during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

THERE WERE GOVERNMENT shutdowns, most famously the one of 1995 when Republicans led by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia thought they’d have the nation’s backing in openly thumbing their nose at Clinton. They didn’t -- the shutdown was a significant part of Gingrich’s decline as a public official.

Which is why I’m sure Republicans are convinced they’re now due for a shutdown-related victory. They probably believe that Democrats MUST take the blame for whatever inconveniences are caused by this current shutdown.

They still have to work during shutdown

While I’m sure many Democratic-leaning people are convinced this will be perceived as yet another GOP screwup; and one that can be a prime part of a Trump legacy of governmental incompetence.

All of which I’m sure will come to a head when people start seeing how our government (which we’d like to boast is the finest form of self-governing in existence on Planet Earth) is just as cheap and petty as the people whom we elect – we really do get what we deserve. We put these people in office to begin with.

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What should we think when political people conflict on what they say

Learning of the latest dispute involving the Republican distaste for President Barack Obama reminded me of an old incident right here at City Hall – one in which then-Mayor Richard M. Daley didn’t come across as looking that good.

DURBIN: Says somebody insulted president

I recall that the Chicago Sun-Times came up with a story related to the McCormick Place convention center that infuriated Daley!

HE MADE PUBLIC statements to the press corps at City Hall about how the newspaper was so wrong and must have shown its complete ignorance by taking comments so far out of context that they made no sense.

There was just one problem – the on-the-record source for that particular story (whose minutia was so intense that I must confess to not even remembering the specifics) was then-Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority director John Schmidt.

I specifically remember calling Schmidt that morning (I worked for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago back then) to talk to him about the story, and he told me that the Sun-Times had quoted him accurately – and gotten all its facts right.

It’s a minor dispute of facts. It wouldn’t shock me to learn that I’m the only person who even remembers this particular story.

BUT IT WAS a lesson I learned about how seriously we should take it when people start attacking the legitimacy of what gets reported.

Sometimes, the denials shouldn’t be taken that seriously. Some people just want to be able to say something didn’t happen.

OBAMA: Ignoring the slur

While others are willing to let the word about something get out, while having their own reasons for not wanting to publicly stand behind it later.

And sometimes, there are just conflicts amongst the various officials. It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

ALL OF WHICH is relevant to comprehending the dispute concerning Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who had his people put something on his Facebook page about the Republican official who supposedly told the president to his face, “I cannot even stand to look at you.”

Aides to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, quickly made a point of saying they want a retraction and an apology for what they say is a, “reckless allegation.”

Obama’s official spokesman said he looked into the incident, and couldn’t find any evidence that anybody had the nerve to say that directly to the president.

BOEHNER: He's outraged!!!

“It did not happen,” spokesman Jay Carney told reporter-types at the White House, with officials later using the word "misunderstanding" to describe why it was thought something bad was said.

YET DURBIN STILL says it did, going so far as to use the incident in a fundraising pitch. He's definitely not going along with the rants coming from House Republicans who are demanding that Durbin cough up his source for the tidbit and apologize for besmirching their reputation – which in the overall scheme of things isn’t all that important.

Is anyone shocked to learn that the distaste for Obama is so intense in certain quarters that there are people who don’t want to work with him? The underlying premise of this tidbit is so apparent that it is beyond dispute!

Personally, I don’t have any first-hand information about this moment. I don’t know who said it, or exactly when. Or what Durbin’s motivation for passing along trivial gossip would be if that is what truly has occurred.

In fact, I’m not about to take it as any sign that Obama and Durbin are in some sort of long-term political split. I don’t think the Daley/Schmidt dynamic was impacted much by the long-ago difference in public statements.

IF ANYTHING, I’M inclined to think the Obama camp wants to downplay this particular incident because it supposedly occurred during the now-complete talks to end the federal government shutdown that lasted for 16 days.

What’s the point of dredging up old trivia about how people don’t like the president and let their personal taste influence their politics. He’s forgiving, in that sense. Maybe he realizes there will be many more insults in the future for him to get worked up over.

Or maybe Obama is just following a pair of axioms given to us by the fictional Don Vito Corleone. “It’s business, not personal.” And, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

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