As with a terrible headache that finally eases, the reverberations of the 16-day government shutdown continue to echo around Washington even though the immediate crisis has passed. The question everyone in politics is trying to answer is whether and how much the shutdown showdown changed things inside and outside Washington. Is this a pivot point in our politics or simply a hiccup in the spasmodic nature of modern governing?
In an attempt to answer that question, here are some things that the government shutdown and debt-ceiling debate changed — and some that they didn’t. [cont.]
Chris Cillizza, Washington Post