In June, weeks before the stock market tanked and the nation got downgraded, White House chief of staff Bill Daley arranged a secret retreat for his senior team at Fort McNair, a leafy 18th century Army base near the southern tip of the District of Columbia. Historian Michael Beschloss went along as a guest speaker to help answer the one question on everyone's mind: How does a U.S. President win re-election with the country suffering unacceptably high rates of unemployment?
The historian's lecture provided a lift for Barack Obama's team. No iron law in politics is ever 100% accurate, Beschloss told...