The world got a close-up look at U.S. democracy during Washington’s debt default showdown, and was traumatized by what it saw. Foreign commentators branded the United States “befuddled,” and mocked its “dysfunctional” political system while French newspaper Le Monde bemoaned a “piteous spectacle” over the just-avoided debt default.

A picture spoke volumes about the United States' loss of global prestige and influence due to the shutdown of its government in a partisan standoff over the federal budget and debt. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin beamed front and centre in the family photograph of Asian leaders at last week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bali.

When President Obama last traveled across Southeast Asia, in a trip two years ago designed to show his commitment to entrenching U.S. influence there, his administration's "pivot to Asia" was stymied almost immediately by events in the Middle East. The Arab Spring was setting the region aflame. Obama's goals of offsetting Chinese power, rallying rising East Asian economies under American stewardship and securing a role in this increasingly important corner of the world would all have to wait.

The U.S. government shutdown has claimed some more casualties. President Barack Obama’s visits to Malaysia and the Philippines next week will be called off because the logistics staff who precede the massive presidential entourage aren’t in place. Secretary of State John Kerry will go instead. That might not be a big deal if Xi Jinping, currently in Indonesia on his first Southeast Asian tour since taking office as China’s president in March, weren’t just about to visit Malaysia too.

As I write this, there remains a slight possibility that the federal government will not shutdown at midnight tonight, furlough all “non-essential” employees, and cease many of its functions.