Like many of us, I suspect, I am still reeling from the Democrats’ whiplash reversal on the shutdown, thanks to 8 Dems going rogue and siding with Republicans to fund the continuing resolution. The Rogue 8 were able to gain some concessions — protections for federal workers, full funding of SNAP — but not the ACA extensions that had been touted by Dems as the primary moral stand of the shutdown (Ezra Klein points out here that that’s only part of the story).

As many others have said, this feels like a huge letdown: just when we have a big tailwind coming out of a remarkable election, the Democratic Party decides to furl sails and bring the ship to a standstill. That’s the feeling, at any rate, fostered in part by the fact that the party does not have a great track record — bringing a briefing book to a knife fight, and all that. And certainly many of the commentators I respect most have expressed frustration and great concern: Robert Reich, Jonathan Chait, Michael Tomasky, for instance.

But, there is another side of this, as a few people have pointed out (e.g., Joe Scarborough, Claire McCaskill, and Reverend Al on “Morning Joe” today). And to my mind, Durban, Kaine and Shaheen at any rate are no slouches.

So, rather than hash through pros and cons in an effort to make a judgment about whether or not this is a good thing, I’d like to offer a few observations, in the spirit of, it’s often better to focus on the “ands” than the “buts” — and this can be a beginning not an ending. 

• The Dems need to treat this as a victory. The Republicans, and Trump especially, will certainly crow about it. But the Dems have used the shutdown to demonstrate that it is the party that seriously cares about people; polling and the recent election show that there message is successfully landing; and they cannot and must not now let that message get lost. The message is: “We delivered protections and SNAP and holiday travel in the face of a tyrant intent on using the shutdown to hold Americans hostage . . . .”
• “. . . and we will do our utmost to do the same in the upcoming vote on the ACA — only Republicans stand in the way.” I fear that the Rogue 8 have sealed the fate of the ACA, but with a concerted campaign over the next month, maybe not? And if so, make the Republicans own people’s loss of health insurance.
• Does resolving the shutdown save us from the loss of the filibuster? Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of the filibuster: it has become an out-of-control (literally — everything is predetermined and votes of cloture are never actually taken) mechanism with hugely non-democratic consequences. But circumstances alter cases, and right now, we need the filibuster to stand in the way of rampant gutting of voting rights by a party intent on maintaining power at all costs (a goal which Trump himself made clear). Sen. Thune and others resisted Trump’s appeals — but would they continue to do so?
• Another silver lining, perhaps: Mike Johnson has to bring the House back into session, swear in Adelita Grijalva — and face the music on the release of the Epstein files. 
• And a final thought: how this played out points to how ineffective Chuck Schumer has become as a leader. Can you imagine if Nancy Pelosi was in his position? Or any of the great Senate leaders of the past? 
• To be sure, this is not a done deal, and Hakeem Jeffries is raising doubts about the success of the resolution in the House — where a lot of Republicans will also want to reject the concessions that have been made. All the more reason that the Dems need to stay on top of this, shape the narrative, and take the message to the people.