So, 85% say yes? Tough, this is D.C.

WASHINGTON— President Obama lost a major fight over gun control with a majority of the vote. Only in Washington. It’s why his defeat over a modest background checks proposal may still signal victory several years down the road. The public is way ahead of the political class and special interests, including a gun lobby that he said “willfully lied” and cowardly Democrats who “caved to the pressure.”

“My view is that when you have 85% of the public for something on such an emotional issue, it is pretty hard to snuff it in the long run,” said Andrew Kohut, founding director of the Pew Research Center.

Be it checks on gun show sales (85% in favor), a federal data base to track gun sales (67%) or a ban on semiautomatic weapons (55%), the mood is obvious. It’s similar to the seismic shift one began to discern with gay marriage several years ago.

But the recent perverting and overuse of the Senate’s filibuster rule meant that 60, not 50, votes were needed. So when conservative Democrats nervous about reelection peeled away, the compromise to expand background checks lost despite its 54-46 majority.

“Anywhere else in the world, a 54-46 vote is a comfortable win. Only in D.C. is it a shocking setback,” said Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democratic congressman.

The impact on Obama is probably negligible, perhaps even positive. Long passive on gun violence, he went into overdrive after the Newtown massacre. His Rose Garden diatribe arguably capped a personal transformation on the issue.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that the President devoted himself fully to the cause of strengthening gun laws. The American people know that,” said David Axelrod, his former top political strategist, who oversees a new Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago.

As for political fallout, Axelrod speculated, “If there is some, it will be for those members of the Senate who defied 90% of the American people out of fear of reprisals from the NRA.”

So the National Rifle Association won Wednesday. Its supporters are more passionate and effective than their rivals. But, by any way of counting, they are a growing minority and will get their comeuppance, even in the Senate.