Free Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America by Dan Balz

preparing for the reelection. Gone were two of the president’s closest advisers. David Axelrod returned to Chicago to reprise his role as chief strategist of the campaign. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, departed for a role as general surrogate and attacker of Republicans. To replace Rahm Emanuel, the first chief of staff, who was on his way to becoming mayor of Chicago, Obama brought in another Chicagoan, Bill Daley, the brother ofoutgoing mayor Richard M. Daley. To some people, that looked like substituting one Chicago pol for another. But Daley was not an Obama confidant and was not able to assemble a team of his own around him.
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    At the beginning of 2011, tragedy struck. On January 8, twenty-two-year-old Jared Lee Loughner opened fire outside a Safeway store in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people and wounding thirteen. Among the most gravely injured was his apparent main target, Gabrielle Giffords, a young and popular Democratic member of the House. On January 12, with the country convulsed by the tragedy, Obama participated in a service for the victims. The crowd that night was noisy and raucous, and the event took on many of the characteristics of a political rally rather than a solemn remembrance. Despite the atmosphere, Obama delivered one of the most effective speeches of his presidency. “At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized—at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do—it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds,” he said. “What we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other.”
    Obama’s speech drew praise across the political spectrum. Conservatives who had led the political movement that dealt Obama’s party such a terrible defeat in November gushed in their reactions. Two weeks later, on the eve of his State of the Union address, Obama’s approval rating had again risen, to 54 percent, in the
Washington Post
/ABC News poll, the highest point in nine months. Far faster than Bill Clinton after his drubbing in 1994, Obama appeared to have rebounded and begun to right his presidency as he headed into the battles ahead.
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    Once the 112th Congress was sworn in, with Republican John Boehner installed as Speaker of the House and its big freshman class of Tea Party–inspired newcomers, Obama faced months of trench warfare over the budget, spending cuts, taxes, and the deficit—all the issues that had come into play during the midterm elections. With an eye on the coming campaign, Obama hoped he and Congress could reach agreements that would bolster the economy. His advisers believed there was no more effective reelection strategy than boosting growth and reducing unemployment. Anything they could do on either front would improve his shaky prospects for reelection.
    In early February, House Republicans offered their first plan to cut the current-year budget. “Washington’s spending spree is over,” said Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman who chaired the House Budget Committee.Democrats in the House and Senate attacked the plan, but the White House held its fire. Administration officials worried that an all-out assault on the Republican measure could poison negotiations over a continuing resolution needed to fund the government for the rest of the year. Democrats were critical of the White House. Obama was playing a longer game, his advisers said, aimed at getting through an early fight to fund the government in a way that would help bring about a bigger deal later in the year when the debt ceiling needed raising. In the early months, many Democrats were trying to goad Republicans into shutting down the government in the spring, believing they and Obama could profit from a repeat of what had