"That Made the Bipartisan Politics Obama Had Spoken of All but Impossible"

"As a political leader whose desire to build bridges across the political divide at least appears genuine, Obama had the bad luck to come to office when that divide—both in Washington and among voters nationwide—yawned wider than at any time since before World War II.
"Ever since the late 1980s, the percentage of Americans who call themselves strong partisans has risen, accelerating over the last decade. Republicans have moved several steps to the right on average, while Democrats have moved a somewhat smaller degree to the left.
"That gap posed a fundamental problem for the new administration from its beginning, said a longtime Democratic strategist who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid straining his close ties to the White House. In his 2008 campaign, the strategist said, Obama made two overarching promises: On the one hand, he pledged to create a new kind of politics; on the other, to enact major structural reforms in healthcare, the financial markets and the energy industry.
"'He found out you couldn't do both,' the strategist said."

As the Democratic National Convention begins, David Lauter in the Los Angeles Times provides an overview of President Obama's re-election campaign.