Barack Obama ran for president under the banner that he was going to change Washington and make the country run smoother.
The Democratic presidential candidate said he was going to reach across the aisle to the Republican side and get both Democrats and Republicans to work together to solve America's problem.
When Obama was elected president he was not only the first African-American president ever elected he was also a new president that would inherit an economy could only be compared to the Great Depression in terms of its collapse.
The American people elected Obama because they wanted change from the Republican party that was seen as the party that caused the financial mess and the people bought into Obama's notion that he could unify Democrats and Republicans to work together in congress towards a common goal.
The new president was in for a rude awakening.
President Obama soon found out that working with Congress, regardless of which party has the majority, is not an easy task and to get the things the president felt were necessary he would have to alienate some Republicans and some Democrats as well.
Saddled with a failing economy the president sat down to help congress draft a bail out plan that the president said was needed by the American people in order to get the economy moving again and stop the downward economic spiral.
As with any crises there are many differing opinions on how to get things done and the president soon found out that many of those opinions are held by the people in congress.
At first Obama was attempting to get the Republicans on board and support his economic recovery ideas but it was apparent almost from the beginning that overwhelming Republican support was not coming.
The Democrats in congress stood behind their president and started a battle of words with the Republicans to try and get them to change their minds.
What erupted was a congressional war of words that stalled legislation and became the very opposite of what Barack Obama had promised.
Then it got worse.
As the economic stimulus package started to near a vote the Democrats started to publicly speak out against Obama criticizing their own party president for negotiating with the Republicans.
Lead by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi the Democrats launched a barrage of comments at the president that indicated that the honeymoon of the presidential campaign was definitely over.
In the end the economic stimulus package passed and now congress gets on to the important work of making sure the money goes where it is needed.
In the meantime many political observers hope that Obama's first donnybrook with congress was a lesson the new president sorely needed.
Obama is starting to learn that in politics it is easy to say one thing but an entirely different process in making that promise come true.
The new president seems genuine in his desire to make the changes he promised in his campaign but now he has learned just how tough it will really be.
The Democratic presidential candidate said he was going to reach across the aisle to the Republican side and get both Democrats and Republicans to work together to solve America's problem.
When Obama was elected president he was not only the first African-American president ever elected he was also a new president that would inherit an economy could only be compared to the Great Depression in terms of its collapse.
The American people elected Obama because they wanted change from the Republican party that was seen as the party that caused the financial mess and the people bought into Obama's notion that he could unify Democrats and Republicans to work together in congress towards a common goal.
The new president was in for a rude awakening.
President Obama soon found out that working with Congress, regardless of which party has the majority, is not an easy task and to get the things the president felt were necessary he would have to alienate some Republicans and some Democrats as well.
Saddled with a failing economy the president sat down to help congress draft a bail out plan that the president said was needed by the American people in order to get the economy moving again and stop the downward economic spiral.
As with any crises there are many differing opinions on how to get things done and the president soon found out that many of those opinions are held by the people in congress.
At first Obama was attempting to get the Republicans on board and support his economic recovery ideas but it was apparent almost from the beginning that overwhelming Republican support was not coming.
The Democrats in congress stood behind their president and started a battle of words with the Republicans to try and get them to change their minds.
What erupted was a congressional war of words that stalled legislation and became the very opposite of what Barack Obama had promised.
Then it got worse.
As the economic stimulus package started to near a vote the Democrats started to publicly speak out against Obama criticizing their own party president for negotiating with the Republicans.
Lead by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi the Democrats launched a barrage of comments at the president that indicated that the honeymoon of the presidential campaign was definitely over.
In the end the economic stimulus package passed and now congress gets on to the important work of making sure the money goes where it is needed.
In the meantime many political observers hope that Obama's first donnybrook with congress was a lesson the new president sorely needed.
Obama is starting to learn that in politics it is easy to say one thing but an entirely different process in making that promise come true.
The new president seems genuine in his desire to make the changes he promised in his campaign but now he has learned just how tough it will really be.
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