Presidential Election: Can Obama withstand the Republican challenge? Bob Benenson, The CQ Researcher, February 3, 2012 , pp. 101-124. “The 2012 contest pitting President Obama against a yet-to-be-determined Republican challenger ranks as one of the most intriguing presidential campaigns in history. Two powerful populist factions — the conservative Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street protest against income inequality — are helping to shape campaign ideologies and stump speeches. An unusually large field of Republican candidates, including multimillionaire Mormon Mitt Romney and thrice-married Newt Gingrich, have fought each other as aggressively as they have Obama, leaving the GOP so fractured that some think a nominee won't emerge until the party convention in August. Meanwhile, following a controversial Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance, wealthy donors are pouring millions of dollars into TV attack ads through so-called SuperPACs. And overshadowing the entire spectacle is the shaky U.S. economy and the question of which candidate is best equipped to turn it around.” READ MORE

Obama, Explained. James Fallows, The Atlantic, March 2012, var. pp. “As Barack Obama contends for a second term in office, two conflicting narratives of his presidency have emerged. Is he a skillful political player and policy visionary—a chess master who always sees several moves ahead of his opponents (and of the punditocracy)? Or is he politically clumsy and out of his depth—a pawn overwhelmed by events, at the mercy of a second-rate staff and of the Republicans? Here, a longtime analyst of the presidency takes the measure of our 44th president, with a view to history.”
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Election 2012: An Unusually Clear Policy Choice.Jay Cost, Policy Review, December 2011, var. pages."The presidential election of 2012 is shaping up to be an epic contest. It is uncommon for an incumbent president to be considered an underdog, yet as of this writing President Barack Obama’s odds of winning reelection, according to the Intrade prediction market, stand at less than 50 percent. An endangered incumbent always makes for a fascinating political dynamic, one that will be compounded by the enormously high stakes of the upcoming battle. With the unemployment rate stuck at near nine percent and the Democrats’ new health entitlement set to go into effect relatively soon, the winner of 2012 will have unusual power to set American domestic policy for the rest of the decade." READ MORE

The Age Of Volatility. Ronald Brownstein, The National Journal, Updated: October 27, 2011, var. pp. "Over the past decade, neither political party has been able to sustain any more than a momentary advantage. Will 2012 be any different? As the 2012 election approaches, Washington is bracing for an earthquake. Again. As opinion polls show near-record dissatisfaction with the nation’s direction, towering disillusionment with both parties and all major political institutions, and pervasive gloom over the economy’s prospects, conditions are gathering for a fourth consecutive election that could rattle Washington to its foundation. That volatility is a defining characteristic of our political era. Viewed from one angle, the political instability stretches back to 1968, when voters, breaking the typical pattern of the previous seven decades, started to routinely deny either party unified control of Congress and the White House. More immediately, another tumultuous election in 2012 would continue an even bumpier recent cycle in which an anxious and agitated electorate has careened from the GOP in 2002 and 2004 toward the Democrats in 2006 and 2008 before snapping back toward Republicans in 2010."  READ MORE