A year ago, House Republicans were triumphant, buoyed by 87 freshmen and relishing their majority. But 12 months of showdowns and super failures have left them grappling with how to recalibrate their policies and redefine their message. Meanwhile, President Obama and congressional Democrats are seizing on the public’s low opinion of Congress to depict Republicans as protecting the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

The GOP soul-searching begins in earnest on Thursday, when House members trek to Baltimore for their annual issues retreat. It is uncertain what Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and his leadership team will say, but they can count on getting an earful themselves.

“It’s amazing that so soon after the 2010 elections, the Republican House of Representatives is now faced with having to rebuild trust with the voters,” freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas complained recently in a blunt op-ed piece.

In interviews with a dozen other House Republicans, a similar theme emerged: Momentum was lost; they need a big, bold, unified legislative and messaging strategy; Boehner’s team must get everyone, as Rep. Allen West of Florida put it, “on the same sheet of music.”

The first test of how difficult that will be could come as soon as Wednesday, when the House considers Obama’s request to raise the government’s $15.2 trillion borrowing authority by another $1.2 trillion as part of last summer’s deal—opposed by 66 House Republicans—that prevented a national default. Even if Congress passes a joint resolution of disapproval, Obama can veto it.

Resentment over that deal, including against GOP colleagues, remains strong, and even this symbolic vote could get heated.

In a statement last week, Huelskamp lashed out: “Anyone who supported this deal back in August but then votes to oppose the debt-limit increase this upcoming week should take no credit for standing against reckless spending. The real opportunity to stand for fiscal responsibility was in August.”

Such perceived embarrassments over failures to keep pledges regarding fiscal matters gnaw at many of the Republican freshmen. Despite their bold campaign pledges to cut spending and shrink government, the government is on track to spend more in 2012 than it did in 2011.

“Our major hurdle is, how do we communicate through the noise of a presidential year; how do we tell our story of the debt and deficit … our visions of what policy creates jobs?” asks freshman Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz.

Exacerbating the tensions are rumors that leadership will not renew the payroll-tax war that was waged just before Christmas. Many rank-and-file House Republicans feel betrayed by Senate Republicans, who negotiated a two-month extension of the payroll-tax holiday, unemployment benefits, and reimbursements to Medicare physicians with Democrats. The conference committee assigned to come up with a full-year deal begins meeting next week. The current package expires on Feb. 29. Wary of the toll that Obama’s charges extracted last month when he said Republicans wanted to raise taxes on 160 million workers, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told some of his troops that GOP leaders will not expend much more political capital on the matter, according to several members.

“I think it will be a quiet victory for the president,” said one House Republican, who requested anonymity.

Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., is less shy about talking openly, and he is among several members who point to the December payroll-tax-cut battle as an instance where Boehner suddenly entered into a legislative deal without their consent, giving ground to Democrats.

“I’m struggling with how we handled the payroll-tax extension,” Mulvaney said. “I, and I was not alone, felt like I was sent out into battle, and I turned around and my generals had left.”

He said that the flubbed payroll-tax extension debate—leadership refused to take questions from members on a conference call explaining a revised deal—left him and other members seething. It was, he said, “the worst I have ever been treated in my career in politics by my own leadership.”

“If John Boehner thinks that’s what the future of his leadership means, then I’m going to struggle with that.”

Even if a new messaging campaign results from this weekend’s retreat, there are few moments on the legislative calendar where Republicans can make a stand. Congress must tackle the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding by the end of January. The House will take up Boehner’s highway and energy bill and a measure aimed at preventing members of Congress from engaging in insider trading. A new farm bill is due in the fall. On the appropriations front, lawmakers expect to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the November elections.

The Republicans’ desire for a “big and bold” plan—something grand, such as tax or entitlement reform—is tempered by worries about going out on a limb in an election year, especially knowing that Democrats would be eager to saw it off.

“I think we’re going to have to have a come-to-Jesus meeting at the retreat when we go to Baltimore next week,” Mulvaney said. “Because, right now, my confidence in my leadership is extraordinarily low. Again, [it’s] not driven by issues. This is not an issues-driven concern that I have. It’s strategy, and integrity is what it comes down to. The leader that cannot stomach to have an open debate on key issues is no leader.”