President Obama's second term: The end of bipartisanship

Obama spent much of his first term trying to bridge the ideological divide. Now he's taking a different tack

House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama
(Image credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

As President Obama moves with surprising forcefulness to implement elements of his second-term agenda — including gun control, immigration, and taxes — it's worth remembering just how scattered and lost his administration appeared to be for long stretches of his first term. Inside Obama's Presidency, a new documentary from PBS Frontline (watch Chapter 1 below, or view the entire film here), offers a useful overview of the challenges that nearly overwhelmed the young president, who had ridden to power on a message of bipartisan healing.

The overarching theme of the documentary is Obama's repeated attempts to make good on his campaign promise to find common ground. The film centers on three prominent episodes, starting with the most urgent: An $800 billion stimulus package to prevent the economy from collapsing in early 2009. Obama stuffed the legislation with tax breaks in order to appeal to the GOP, and, to symbolize his good faith, rushed to Capitol Hill to sell the package to congressional Republicans. But GOP leaders had already developed a strategy of unified and total opposition to Obama's stimulus. The stimulus package passed with zero Republican support in the House, and has long since been characterized by many conservatives as a feckless waste of money that bloated the deficit.

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.