The current federal government shutdown has just surpassed the one-month mark, and while most Americans remain unaffected directly it is testament to the extent to which the tentacles of government have infiltrated throughout society that increasing numbers have encountered at least some tangible effects; most likely a federal worker of acquaintance whose pay has been postponed. In any case the initial relief and mild exuberance of being alive on the day the government spends no money has generally given way to a sort of communal sympathy, and a sense that this episode has run its course and ought to be shepherded to a conclusion.

Senator Cory Gardner, to his credit, caught this sense rather early on and took the unique step of proceeding to seek a workable solution, and in the process has granted axiomatic credence to the phrase that no good deed goes unpunished.

Gardner has taken a beating from all sides: from the left the assaults come from among those who are desperately excited at the prospect of deposing him in 2020. For those folks, there is nothing, I mean nothing, that Cory Gardner could do between now and then that could merit even the faintest praise. Gardner could single-handedly bring about permanent world peace and end hunger for all time, and he would be castigated for selling out howitzer manufacturing jobs and for being a shill of the food industry.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the case for some on the right as well, from those who view his willingness to hammer out a compromise that may fall short of President Trump’s demands as somehow evidence of a waning commitment to border security. It is difficult to take such claims seriously, given Gardner’s history on the issue and his recent co-sponsoring of a bill that would dedicate substantially more to border security than the paltry $5 billion Trump is calling for.

The criticism from the Democratic side is not without its own surfeit of irony. In case you happened to miss them, there are ads being run on TV, financed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, ostensibly criticizing Gardner for doing exactly opposite what his critics on the right complain of. Mr. Schumer never seems to tire of announcing to anyone who will listen (his press people have them on speed dial) his desire for nothing but an end to the shutdown, yet spends millions of dollars in electronic warfare against the leading Republican offering to help find a workable solution to do just that.

A government shutdown is a political act, as is its prolongation, the principle aim being to assign blame. To listen to the Democratic narrative, you would think that Gardner alone has the Zeus-like power to bring about a resolution to it. It’s unclear what that’s meant to imply as to the power and ability of the other senator from the Great State of Colorado, but there it is.

Meanwhile, in his quest for a pragmatic solution to the debacle, Gardner is correct to back President Trump’s latest offer. As shutdown-ending deals go, it is a good one. On the one hand it provides the President with his $5 billion for the wall, or what have you; border security alone, of course, does not provide the requisite answer to confronting this nation’s illegal immigration problem, but it is an overdue starting point. For the Democrats it offers a similarly overdue starting point to dealing with the dilemma of that most sympathetic class of illegal, the “Dreamers,” accomplishing a major policy priority which, it is fair to note, the Democrats have been unable to effect for more than a decade, even when they held the Presidency and a supermajority in Congress.

What will be the long-term political ramifications of all this? Probably very little. The drama of the current contentions will be replaced by several others before November 2020 rolls around, and government shutdowns seem to have unimpressive staying power in the collective memory of the voters, most of whom, again, are largely unaffected directly by it. More impactful politically over the long term will be the looming presence of President Trump. There can be little question that if Mr. Trump were to decide tomorrow that he had grown tired of being president and wished to do something else – become a poet perhaps – that Sen. Gardner would be delighted. Should that fail to occur, he can only continue to offer and support good policies, distilling them, when necessary, from their presidential messenger.

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and recovering journalist based in Denver. He is also an energy and environmental policy fellow at Centennial Institute.