Obama's First Test

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, January 5, 2009

For the past eight years, Congress has had a remarkably consistent record. When something was important to President Bush -- particularly if it was even vaguely related to national security -- Congress pretty much always caved. The combination of blindly loyal Republicans and cowering Democrats provided Bush with a winning margin time and again, even when the Democrats were ostensibly in charge, and even when Bush was demanding retroactive approval for laws he had brazenly violated.

The relationship between President Obama and Congress will inevitably take on an very different dynamic. But even though his fellow Democrats have solidified their control of both houses, it's not clear that Obama will be able to put together a coalition as effective as Bush's.

The president-elect's first test will be the economic stimulus and job-creation package he is championing. Much like Bush after 9/11, Obama faces an undeniable crisis and has public sentiment solidly behind him. Some sort of stimulus package will inevitably win Congressional support -- though not, as some Democrats had initially hoped, in time for Obama to sign it on the first day of his presidency.

But will an Obama victory only come at the cost of kowtowing to Republicans? Will soon-to-be White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel successfully wield the threat of an angry electorate against his former colleagues? Or will Obama really be able to find some sort of post-Bush, post-partisan consensus on a pragmatic, balanced approach to any number of important issues?

(More here.)