The Obama Administration - A Superseding Cause in the Government Shutdown

I'm not going to argue the merits of the partial shutdown, because I think both sides are being rather childish. But, I keep hearing that House Republicans are responsible for all things that have been shut down over the past week. To say that closures of the WWII Memorial, Panda Cam, Florida Bay, etc. automatically flow from the shutdown - and are therefore the fault of whomever caused the partial shutdown - is not correct. These are discretionary - high visibility - items, which require someone in the Executive Branch to affirmatively and punitively target for closure.

For example, the administration attempted to close Mount Vernon this week, which is privately funded. That was 100% wrong and 100% unnecessary...it didn't naturally flow from the partial shutdown. Why would anyone do that? Simple: to win the public perception battle by making it hurt Americans ten fold and then use the PR machine to assign blame in an attempt to destroy the opponent. It is actually a good, though callous, political strategy, unless of course you get caught in your callousness. Unfortunately for the admin, Breitbart isn't the only outlet to quote the anonymous park ranger as saying, “[w]e’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.” It is.

So, even if you blame the GOP for the partial shutdown, you can't blame them for ALL of the closures we're seeing, because these closures require a superseding cause, e.g. the Obama Administration. Of course, people will believe what they will believe and House Republicans are a good/easy target (and the Obama administration knows this). But, to believe that the closures all flow from the actions of one part of a three-branched government is to allow the Obama Administration to shut down the faculties of our critical analysis. We, like the WWII Veterans, must push through those barricades (or Barry-cades) and demand answers. Whether you believe that President Obama and Sen. Harry Reid own the shutdown, you must agree that they own the barricades.