( CNN ) -- It is hard for me to recall a victory as total -- or surrender as ignominious -- as the Great Shutdown Showdown of 2013 . Room S-230 of the U.S. Capitol , the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , is where the final deal was struck , and it will join Appomattox , the USS Missouri and Waterloo as the site of an unconditional surrender . They ought to put up a plaque where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delivered the tea partying Republicans their worst whipping in a generation . I 'm not sure I have fully absorbed all we have been through these past two weeks in Washington . The 15-day shutdown saw a deadly shooting at the Capitol , a self-immolation on the National Mall , a citizen waving the Confederate battle flag in front of the White House and World War II veterans storming one last barricade . No one could have predicted all of that . But the outcome itself was a foregone conclusion . Republicans were seeking an unattainable goal : Repealing Obamacare during the presidency of Barack Obama . They were sure to fail . But the circumstances of their defeat -- and the Democratic hero who has emerged -- are worth noting . Faithful readers of my columns in this space will recall that I predicted the President would prevail in the government shutdown because his party is more united , more mainstream and more reasonable . And , while our President undoubtedly triumphed -- showing a steely resolve that critics thought he lacked -- the undisputed heavyweight champion of the shutdown showdown is Reid . He truly is the King of the Hill . While the House GOP conference exploded like the finale of a fireworks show , Reid held together a Senate Democratic Caucus that is significantly more diverse . From Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders , a socialist , to West Virginia 's Joe Manchin -- who is so conservative that he shot a rifle at an environmental bill in one of his ads -- Reid kept his forces united . Calling Reid an ex-boxer is like calling John McCain an ex-naval officer ; you really never depart from those deeply ingrained traits . In the gym at Basic High in Henderson , Nevada , Reid learned to box . He learned how to explore your opponent 's defenses , how to probe with a jab , when to feint and when to cover up . And when you have your opponent on the ropes , you finish him off . Unlike the solitary sport of boxing , politics is a team effort , and Reid led his team with brilliance and bravery . Reid , House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Obama are three very different kinds of leaders . And yet they were yoked together in perfect balance ; one would lean in while another held back ; one would hold an olive branch while a third would talk tough . The poor Republicans were divided between the realists , who were depressed , and the true believers , who were delusional . Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would strut and admire his plumage , while House Speaker John Boehner alternated between feckless and hapless . In the end it was McConnell who performed last rites on the corpse of Repeal Obamacare . To be sure , no victory is ever final . No defeat is ever permanent . Republicans went on to hold the House after their disastrous shutdown of 1995-96 , and Obama rebounded from what he called `` a shellacking '' in the midterm elections of 2010 to win re-election comfortably in 2012 . Reid understands that . He has been a student of politics and a creature of the Hill since he worked his way through law school as a Capitol police officer . You wo n't see him dancing around the ring , holding his championship belt over his head . Perhaps he 'll have a quiet dinner with his beloved Landra . Then begin training for his next fight . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul Begala .
Paul Begala : The Great Shutdown Showdown of 2013 will go down in history . Former White House Chief Strategist and Deputy Assistant to the President Dan Pfeiffer on Fox News Sunday, May 22, 2013 Republicans were seeking an unattainable goal ; they were sure to fail . He says Sen. Harry Reid is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the shutdown . Begala : A former boxer , Reid kept Democrats united and reached deal with GOP .