(CNN) -- This isn't the idealism of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." It isn't as dark as "House of Cards," either. So how about settling on something lighter, like say, "Animal House," in which the dean famously says, "The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me." And so it goes with Sen. Ted Cruz, at least when it comes to killing Obamacare. The first-term GOP Texan is the self-appointed executioner of a law Republicans despise. But truth be told, it's hard to figure out exactly what Cruz's faux filibuster on the Senate floor this week was really about. He's against big, bad Obamacare, we get it. Only he was asking Senate Republicans to vote against something that would actually kill Obamacare. Huh?
@highlight
Sen. Ted Cruz spent more than 21 hours arguing against funding for Obamacare
@highlight
Gloria Borger: Cruz's actions are perplexing, but he may be trying to be a GOP spokesman
@highlight
She says Cruz wants to cuddle to the tea party base by advocating a shutdown
@highlight
Borger: Cruz has divided the Republican party in a Palinesque way
Cruz is thinking 2016, but they're thinking about the repercussions for the @placeholder if the government shuts down.
But there's another way to go about this," says a senior House @placeholder.