The way I see it the Democrats won the political battle over the government shutdown, but as soon as they attacked the deal they committed an unforced error and gave Trump and the Republicans a victory. Instead of looking like winners the Democrats became losers. How so? With the shut down the Democrats proved they were no longer comatose and were ready to fight Trump and that stance along with Trump voter buyer's remorse set the stage for huge victories in the off-year election.
On the governing side the Democrats achieved robust funding for the SNAP program, the rehiring of riffed workers during the shutdown and were guaranteed a vote on the Obama Care subsidies in December. The Dems have made short shrift of the pledge for a vote on the subsidies. but here they are wrong. The vote will place the Republicans at the horns of a dilemma. If they do nothing, the Dems will have the perfect issue for the mid-terms and if the Republicans compromise with a lower income limit and a minimum premium the Democrats would have achieved their major goal policy goal for the shutdown. The Dems win either way.
Thus, instead of vilifying the eight Democrats who broke the filibuster, they should in turn, commend them for their political savvy and common sense. Sometimes, in politics, you have to know when to take a win.
