by Ken O'Steen
The 1996 Republican Shutdown of the Federal Government
The republican leaders of congress made the tactical decision at the approach of the expiration of the federal government’s budget late in 1995, to refuse passage of the temporary spending measure that would have funded the government until the finer points of a budget could be compromised. Rather than take a step back from their original budget proposals, intended to starve the starving class a little more, they dared William Jefferson Clinton to risk a shutdown of the federal government, by putting his veto on their Draconian paperwork. He called their bluff. Thrice.
In what turned out to be something of a Waterloo for Gingrich the Newt, whose theory had been that the Republican threats, and follow-throughs to shutter the government, would bring confetti raining down upon their heads by a grateful population, ended up a goat. A very large percentage of the population told pollsters they viewed Republicans in congress as petty, not to mention penurious. Congress passed, and Clinton signed, a budget highly favorable to the Oval Office. Newt and Company’s numbers tumbled over the cliff, as did the candidacies of Dole for President, and Republicans running for congress in the following November. Clinton was King.
The people are brilliantly intuitive.