For Republicans with brains, the handwriting is clear. Five years of bashing the President on everything have left the GOP in opinion poll hell, and their frontrunner for the White House in ’16 is Chris Christie, no Tea Party icon.

Little surprise, then, that the disloyal opposition is in rebranding mode: Paul Ryan makes a budget deal with Democrats and edges toward other accommodations while John Boehner shows up with a kind word for extending unemployment benefits.

Even the whooping over the Obamacare muddle is receding, leaving it to the diehards like Rand Paul to grumble about local sign-up difficulties.

While it’s much too early to certify a trend, opportunities for actual governing in Washington seem to be opening up.

The burden now will be on the President to seize the moment.

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