Lost in the excitement of Rand Paul’s extremist violent overthrow of the Senate the other day was The Dinner, as it is now known.

Okay, okay—the Czar is aware that a lot of Tea Party Twitt’rhetoric is ripping into this dinner: the President invites a bunch of Republican senators to dinner and they go, as opposed to Standing With Rand, kinda showing us who is on the cutting edge and who is one of the dinner nibbling establishment.

But in all that, the point is being missed. Republicans scored a two-fer that night. Yes, Rand Paul upstaged the President in front of millions of people—and make no mistake, the effect will be as tough on Obama’s popularity numbers as his annoyed boredom was during the first debate with Mitt Romney.

Yet the Dinner itself was a pretty big hit to His Ego’s easily bruised skin: in case this point was lost, the President was humiliated enough over the Sequester to agree to a closed-door discussion with the Republicans.

Certainly there were some embarrassments: both Lindsey Graham and John McCain offered post-dinner comments best left shut up, ridiculing Rand Paul. But most of the others hurried over the the Senate floor to show support for Paul, and quite a few of these attendees are big-time Tea Party success stories. So Twitter should have dialed down the attacks, no?

Here’s the thing: less than two weeks ago, Obama was crying and tearing up about how bad the Republicans are, and how he cannot work with them, they’re just so impossible, and how they have no good ideas and just want to rip America apart, sob. And you see—mark his words—the world will end on Friday and you’ll be sorry you put them into the House! You will see!

And then the Sequester happened, and pretty much everything went the way the Republicans said it would, and in no way the President hoped it might. Instead of mass chaos across the country, the stock market shot up on word that the government was forced to cut spending increases. Everybody showed up for work; lines were not longer, and so far the most public display of hardship was that White House tours were cut, saving the government $30 an hour.

A couple days later, the President is calling up these same villains to ask for advice (and buried in the noise was a small lunch the President had with Paul Ryan concerning spending; that also is no small thing). And word trickles out that the President was not his usual glaring self, but is willing to hear some Republican bargaining points.

Of course, a President Clinton would have asked for a list of demands and quickly responded yes or no; but for a President who continually reminds people he’s “just” a president, and not an emperor, dictator, king, or potentate, this dinner was especially uncomfortable.

And rather than bash it as taking attention away from Sen. Paul, Republicans should be advertising the hell out of it: The President knocked on our door because he can’t hack it.

Two victories happened this week. Let us not lose sight of that.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.