Obama seeks second term in White House

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama passed the halfway point of his four-year term Thursday and revealed he is already plotting to win a second, boosted by a sudden upswing in popularity.

Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs divulged the worst-kept secret in Washington, saying that his boss would "likely" ask voters to send him back to the White House in 2012.

"We've made some progress on getting our economy back in order, and I think the president wants to continue to do that," Gibbs said, adding that Obama would file official candidacy papers in the coming months.

Officials meanwhile gave the most detailed information yet about Obama's plans to set up his campaign headquarters in his home town of Chicago and to separate the machinery from the work of the White House in Washington.

The president plans to close the White House's political office and send his deputy chief of staff Jim Messina to run the campaign, along with two other Democratic operatives Julianna Smoot and Jennifer O'Malley Dillon.

Gibbs said, that while Obama was formally moving towards a campaign, his focus remained on governing. "It is important to understand, just because the president sets up the machinery of ultimately running for reelection does not mean to say you are going to see the president do a number of political reelection events."

News of the reelection effort came exactly two years to the day when Obama raised his hand and took the oath of office, on a chilly day in Washington, accompanied by soaring expectations. There was no serious thought that Obama would not seek a second term, a historical benchmark of a successful presidency, despite a quixotic comment that he would rather be a good one term president than a bad two term leader.

Obama will run for reelection arguing he staved off a second Great Depression, renewed the US image abroad after the polarizing presidency of George W. Bush and got US troops home from Iraq while saving the US mission in Afghanistan.

Obama will seek to turn his landmark health care reform into an electoral asset, say that that Republicans cannot be trusted with the economy and urge Americans not to change course in the middle of a recovery.

Republicans will likely try to exploit an unemployment rate -- currently 9.4 percent -- forecast to remain high in 2012 and accuse Obama of bankrupting US finances with a torrent of government spending.

However recent official economic data suggests that the jobless picture may be at last be improving, albeit slowly.

Obama's thoughts are turning to reelection at a moment of surprising political momentum, after he outmaneuvered Republicans after a November mid-term election rout, and following his handling of the Arizona shooting.