Double Down

Description:

For Obama, the victory he achieved meant even more to him than the one he had pulled off four years earlier. In 2008, he believed, voters had bet on a hope. In 2012, they passed positive judgment on what he'd actually done, allowing him to avert a loss that would have rendered his presidency a failed, one-term accident. For the Republicans, on the other hand, 2012 not only offered a crushing verdict, but an existential challenge: to rethink and reconstitute the party or face irrelevance.

subjects: Presidents,  Election,  Presidential candidates,  Obama, barack, 1961-,  Romney, mitt, 1947-,  Presidents, united states, election, 2012,  Political campaigns,  United states, politics and government, 2009-2017,  History,  Politics and government

People: Mitt Romney,  Barack Obama

Places: United States

Times: 2012