Lately, though, Papa John’s been arriving on time, serving up hot pizza to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the White House just as ordered, not an ingredient out of place. First, it was a budget deal with more up-front spending (via smaller sequestration) and budget savings stuffed into the out-year crust (always a Beltway favorite). Then there was a double-cheese deep-dish debt deal that didn’t raise the legal borrowing authority but suspended it for a full year—there’s nothing like a calorie-free slice of federal debt to tide you over before a midterm election.

Reid now beams his approval and would, if possible, give Papa John Boehner a Yelp! shout-out for the ages. So would Obama, so long as the pizza is veggie and no soda was delivered on the side (“Let’s Move,” after all, isn’t a suggestion).

The time has come to wonder what Papa John has been up to all this time—and if his deliveries are any different or his customers actually more satisfied. That requires reexamining whom Papa John was serving, what he was selling, and how he defined success.

It’s always dangerous to go back through history and divine master strategy from manic improvisation. Even Boehner’s closest and most trusted aides don’t pretend Papa John wasn’t frustrated, furious, and at times befuddled by his conference’s stubborn refusal to comprehend the path from what they wanted to what could pass Congress and what Obama would sign. Papa John’s loyalists don’t pitch tactical brilliance. They speak softly of survival, like dazed passengers emerging from an icy interstate spin out.