In 2011, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in the head and nearly killed in an assassination attempt. Six people were killed and 12 others wounded in the attack.

Two weeks later, Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together for the State of the Union address. In the third year of Barack Obama’s first term, the president and Congress belatedly lived up to the transcendent spirit of hope and change promised in the 2008 campaign.

Democrats and Republicans bucked the longstanding practice of segregating themselves in the chamber according to party. South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune and New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand took their seats side by side. So did Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint. At many points during the president's speech, they stood and applauded as one.

The Obama years were polarized by historical measures, but they began with great hope for unity in America. In the wake of tragedy, for the briefest moment, that unity was realized. 

I entered American politics in a visible way at the age of 26. I was a Republican nominee for Congress in the 2014 election cycle, running in the 43rd district of California. It marked the culmination of a political rebirth. I had grown up a liberal activist. After many life experiences and much study, I saw fit to fly the banner of the conservative movement. 

Yet, even in this I was a novelty. My road to conservatism began with a devotion to Obama's 2008 campaign. I shared in the spirit of what I believe to be Obama’s vision of an America that transcended the tribalism........

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