I would say the battle was lost the nanosecond that the two man that campaigned on working with Barry were elected and fulfilled their campaign promise.
Everything after that election has been 100% in support/protection of the Obama Agenda. But had the two been replaced by powerless freshman dems or no name repubs, none of this would have happened to begin with. Because the two most powerful leaders in Republican politics would have been out of their leadership/political jobs.
Simple math IMO. And I see no errors in the history of it.
So you are saying this is all about Bohner and McConnell keeping their jobs to the detriment of all else?