de, will leave Americans bitter and at odds with the president if their candidate does not win. This will mean that the president must work even harder to use all of his power to work along with congress and not against them. "Members of the house and senate read the election returns with an eye toward determining the level of public support for the president and his agenda"(Strahan). Even without a landslide victory, the presidency still maintains a lot of power that sometimes never gets utilized. The success of probable President Bush will depend on how he exercises that power. Bush in his campaign promised large tax-cuts and reforming social security. This will be easier said than done. Bush proposed a 1.3 trillion dollar tax-cut and to privatize social security giving a large portion to big business. Bush though is going to encounter some problems in trying to pass these proposals by congress. "With Congress evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, neither the tax cut nor Mr. Bush's plan for partially privatizing Social Security will be an easy sell"(Davis). When the president and Congress are of the same political party, they have a high percentage of winning roll-call votes on bills. However, with a divided government, the percentage is much lower. This has occurred, especially in recent years. For example, in the first term of presidency, Bill Clinton had an approval rating in congress in the range of eighty-six percent. When the Congress became divided in 1994, and Republicans gained control of the House and Senate the approval rating drop to thirty-five percent. That is a significant change in approval percentage, and it is because a president can accomplish more when supported by Congress. A tool that the president can use when he does not agree with a bill proposed by congress is what is called the presidential veto. The founders of the constitution would be shocked by they amount of power that pre...
