Make all of the excuses for him you like. If he could get more than luke warm support for his ideas he could get them passedfillibuster or no fillibuster. If he can't get through the senate what were the chances it would make it through the House? Around zero? So what was the point? politcal grandstanding and readmeat for a base that is more interested in finding things to be upset about than they are in solutions. If the media wasn't his strongest supporters his prefernce to fail and score politcal points instead of leading might actaully hurt him.