Apparently, Mr. Speaker, the president isn't going to negotiate. So ... now what's your plan? Wait to see who cracks first under the pressure that will mount, hour after hour, day after day, even week after week if necessary?

OK then. We'll wait....

While we're waiting, though, maybe we should kill some time by reading through the latest national polling data, released fresh this morning from Quinnipiac University:

"American voters oppose 72 - 22 percent Congress shutting down the federal government to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

Voters also oppose 64 - 27 percent blocking an increase in the nation's debt ceiling as a way to stop Obamacare, the independent Quinnipiac University poll finds.

American voters are divided on Obamacare, with 45 percent in favor and 47 percent opposed, but they are opposed 58 - 34 percent to Congress cutting off funding for the health care law to stop its implementation.

Republicans support the federal government shutdown by a narrow 49 - 44 percent margin, but opposition is 90 - 6 percent among Democrats and 74 - 19 percent among independent voters."

I'm sure that as the days drag on, the American people -- especially those critically important independent voters who oppose your approach by almost four to one -- will begin to see the wisdom and justice in your position, Mr. Speaker. They just need a little time, and probably a little more exposure to those calm voices of reason in your House Republican caucus. They'll come around, wait and see.

Meanwhile, maybe we also ought to review the list of demands being made by each side in this standoff. For example, here's what Democrats are demanding as their price for keeping the government open:

Nothing.

They have made no demands. Spending levels are not at issue: The House, Senate and White House agree on spending levels. Democrats just want to keep government running.

And here's what Republicans demand:

1.) They demand that members of Congress and their staff, as well as all those who work in the White House, up to and including the president, be stripped of the employer-provided share of their health insurance costs. For many Americans, employer-provided health insurance is a standard employment benefit. It's a standard benefit for other federal employees, and has long been a standard part of the benefit package for congressional employees as well. But House Republicans have gotten it into their heads that there's something terrible about it. (The backstory of this bizarre demand is covered here.)

For members of Congress, who make $174,000 a year, the loss of up to $11,000 as the federal share of family medical coverage won't be a massive hit. But -- since we've got time -- let's look at staff salaries in the office of U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia, one of the champions of the proposal to cut off insurance benefits.

Of the 16 members on Gingrey's full-time Washington staff, 15 make $85,000 or less. Ten of the 16 make $60,000 or less. Six make less than $40,000 a year. But to Gingrey and his colleagues, suddenly making those people pay the full cost of their family's health insurance out of their own pockets is a cause worth shutting the government down to achieve. While you're sitting around waiting, Mr. Speaker, maybe you should ask the people on your own staff how they feel about being made sacrificial lambs to the wackiness of parts of the GOP base.

2.) They demand a one-year postponement of the individual mandate to buy health insurance, the core feature of ObamaCare, which in political terms would kill the program altogether.

As we all know, Republicans fought ObamaCare in Congress four years ago, and failed because they didn't have the votes. They fought it in the Supreme Court, and failed because they didn't have the votes. They fought it in the 2012 elections, and failed because they didn't have the votes. They have voted more than 40 times to repeal all or part of it, and they have failed because they didn't have the votes.

They still don't have the votes. This is their attempt to overcome that embarrassing shortcoming by proclaiming that if government tries to implement this official act of Congress, well, there will be no government.

Now, as plans go, Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure that's a good one. Large parts of the federal government may be shut down this morning, but the ObamaCare exchanges are up and running, busily signing up formerly uninsured Americans for health policies even as you read this.

Another American signed up just this moment. And there's another one. And another one....

Unlike you, Mr. Speaker, they're not waiting.

Care for a cigarette, sir?