The rage among Democrats trained on one figure: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who signaled a day earlier that the fight was over and it was time to move on. The choice was to hold open the doors of a scaled-down government or to slam it closed on what stood before, and the outcome tells the story.

Chuck Schumer has given Senate Democrats an out — drastically lowering the chances of a government shutdown Saturday.

In failing to demonstrate what they stand for, Democrats fumbled the chance to show why they deserve a return to power, centrists and progressives say.