OPINION: Jacky Rosen takes heat after voting to end shutdown — but does she deserve it?

It's always dangerous to write something nice about a politician. I try never to do it, but sometimes I stray.

Given the cutthroat political atmosphere exacerbated by the longest-in-history government shutdown, the odds are pretty high that a columnist's bouquets will end up wilting like dime-store daisies.

I was reminded of that Monday morning, a day after lauding Sen. Jacky Rosen's tenacity in defense of the Democrats' efforts to maintain Biden-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance premium subsidies. She showed impressive grit and appeared undaunted by her GOP critics.

In a committee meeting, Rosen cuffed around Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) so thoroughly that their exchange captured the attention of national news outlets. Understated Jacky was a mouse that roared — until she wasn't.

Rosen then joined a handful of Senate Democrats, including Nevada colleague Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, in the decision to end the government shutdown without salvaging the expanded SNAP and ACA benefits. Cortez Masto, who spun the heads of Nevada Democrats when she took a knee on first down in the fight, ends up looking politically prudent.

Criticism of Rosen's sudden shift was swift from those who had bought into the Democrats' no-pain no-gain shutdown strategy. After millions of Americans took to the streets to protest Trump's policies and give support for sidelined government workers, appearing to rewrite the script was bound to result in blowback.

Following the column, longtime liberal journalist Carrie Kaufman smirked in a text, "Are you thinking of doing a follow-up to your piece on how brave Rosen is? I have been very proud of her lately. Now I am fuming."

Turns out she's not alone. The anger was palpable from liberal groups such as Indivisible Northern Nevada. One email excerpt: "After 41 days of holding the line against Republicans and their self-inflicted government shutdown, it was infuriating to see one Independent and seven Senate Democrats - ESPECIALLY Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto - cave to Trump and his MAGA allies, handing them exactly EVERYTHING they wanted."

Rosen quickly went from scrappy to scrawny in their eyes after joining the "Shameful Eight" who voted to end the shutdown "without securing a single meaningful concession" and extracting just a promise of a December vote to control skyrocketing ACA insurance premiums.

Speaking of anger, at least one member of Nevada's congressional delegation, Rep. Dina Titus, made it clear what she thought of the compromise, telling The Indy in a statement, "Senate passage of the continuing resolution without extending Affordable Care Act premium subsidies means thousands of Nevadans will lose their health insurance because they won't be able to afford it. We have endured weeks of pain from a government shutdown — including cutting off SNAP benefits and not paying federal workers — for nothing."

This week, a Rosen spokesperson said in a statement the senator came to the realization that the shutdown wasn't effective against a callous president and his GOP majority.

"Ultimately, it was clear to Senator Rosen that Washington Republicans and Donald Trump didn't care about hurting and starving Nevadans, and there was no bottom to the lengths they would go to inflict pain on Nevada families. She wanted to put an end to Trump using Nevadans as political pawns while at the same time continuing to fight to prevent a spike in health care costs for families."

The Rosen rep reminds the disappointed that the Republicans refused to discuss the ACA tax credit issue before the shutdown and that she supported a plan that fully funded SNAP for a year, reversed illegal firings and restored pay and benefits to federal workers "who have been struggling to pay their bills for over six weeks."

It's also true that the president fought to prevent the distribution of SNAP benefits to millions of Americans. After failing in the courts, he's now requiring them to reapply for food assistance.

Rosen's decision came at a time of particular economic upheaval in the Nevada gaming and tourism industry linked to Trump's policies and the government shutdown. Industry concerns about the impact of the shutdown were voiced in a Nov. 3 letter to congressional leaders from the U.S. Travel Association, whose members include Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

(I'm still waiting to read the letter from the casino kings calling out Trump for his chaotic and damaging policies that are surely hurting their profits.)

More than 1.2 million workers are owed $16 billion in back wages after going unpaid since Oct. 1. Ironically, a massive cash infusion might make a temporary bump in the nation's souring economy. But ending the shutdown doesn't end the pain, or do anything about the administration's malevolent tariff policies that have dampened international travel and tourism.

Those who expected more from Rosen have a right to be disappointed and should let her know about it. It's easy to accuse her of a calculated act of self-preservation, but that's no sin in politics. Her predecessors made long careers out of it.

As the minority Democrats bicker and regroup, Republicans attempt to follow their leader at a time when the ghost of the president's pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein haunts the present. It's hardly news that we are not all in this together.

Nor is it news to be reminded that bullying brinksmanship and callow cruelty are marks of Trump's presidency. Some may indeed feel others' pain, but it's clear that the president does not.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family's Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.