So, the House Republicans have shut down the government. Now what? What is their end goal? What is the principle at play? What do they hope to gain?

Polls show that Americans are overwhelmingly against the shutdown and are more likely to blame the Republicans than the president. Those numbers are likely to tilt even further away from the G.O.P. the longer this thing drags on.

Petulant Republicans, smarting from being regularly outsmarted by this president, have taken aim at the legislative achievement that they derisively branded with his name (a branding the president has since adopted, flipped and reclaimed) as their last stand against the image of his success and the writing of his legacy.

They are against him on many levels. Some of their opposition seems to be cerebral, relating to the constitutionality of the law. But the Supreme Court already settled that question. It affirmed the law. Of course, there’s also a more visceral, gut-level repudiation of anything associated with Obama. But the voters settled that, in 2012. They affirmed him.