Okay, so the good guys lost this battle. On to the next one.
With “this battle,” of course, I’m referring to the government shutdown over . . . what was it over again? Defunding Obamacare? Delaying the individual mandate? It seems like it was over three or four things before it was . . . over.
Look, you don’t win every battle. This one, we lost. We tried to take a hill, and we failed. You pick yourself up, you dress your wounds, you assimilate the lessons, and you move on.
Some argued that we should not have charged this hill—that we knew there was little to no chance of success, and that we should not lead our troops into a battle without at least a decent chance of winning. Others argued that the fight was a noble one, the cause a just one, and that it should be taken on regardless of the chances of success, which turned out to be a kamikaze strategy. Regardless, it was a debate over strategy and tactics, not principle. A tactic or two was tried, they failed, and now we hopefully learn from it and move on without shooting too many of our own in the process. Because they’ll be needed for the next battle.
In the next battle, which is already almost upon us, instead of trying to take new territory, we’re defending territory we’ve already gained—the sequester. This next battle is to defend the spending controls achieved through the magnificent, successful sequester. And, in my humble opinion, this battle is more important than the last one.
Make no mistake—the Left is gunning to undo the sequester. They knew they would never give up the only accomplishment of President Obama’s five years in office. They will now try to use what they think is newfound political capital against what they think is a weakened GOP to undo the sequester, which is the GOP’s only accomplishment of its last three years in power.
The sequester is the prize, and the sequester is what must not be surrendered. To me, it’s inconceivable that the Obama administration will offer any reform great enough to trade for even a part of the sequester, but they will try, and some Republican appropriators will fall for it.
We don’t have time for recriminations. Everybody strap in for the battle to defend the sequester, because it’s coming.
Addendum: Told you so. Oh, and thanks so much, AEI.