If you’re a Democrat, you’re probably mad, wondering why those eight senators caved just when things were starting to look a little better for the party. Let me take a stab at making you feel better. Setting aside whether eight Democratic (or Democrat-adjacent) members of the Senate should have voted with Republicans, and setting aside the small concessions they claim to have gotten (I’ll believe that December vote on subsidies when I see it), I think there are several ways in which this was a good week for the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party ended the shutdown. I’d bet an awful lot of people knew that the shutdown was happening, knew that people were going without paychecks, flights were delayed, food assistance benefits were in jeopardy, etc., but did not know the ins and outs of

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