Adding Two Weeks To The Clock

So what does the two-week extension on the shutdown countdown clock mean?  As TPM's Brian Beutler points out, not a whole lot, other than Dems are once again playing to lose.

By agreeing to several billion dollars in spending cuts over the two weeks starting March 4, Democrats signaled that they've lost the argument on spending limits. Republicans want the longer-term funding measure to include over $60 billion in cuts, and they're likely to get them.

But in addition to wanting reduced levels, they want those cuts to target government programs they dislike, and they want the government funding bill to include a bunch of extraneous policy measures meant to tie the Obama administration's hands on issues as diverse as education, the environment and health care, as it attempts to govern from the executive branch.

The Obama administration and Senate Democrats have rejected those riders, but all three sides will have to come to terms on something by mid-month. We're facing a much bigger fight, and it will need to be resolved quickly. 

And odds are very good that the Republicans will get a lot of what they want too.  When the economy naturally gets worse, Republicans will howl that the cuts weren't deep enough and blame Obama, and voters will lose programs they need and blame Obama too.

Pretty predictable plan, and yet the Democrats are walking right into the jet intake.