Trouble in paradise?

For me at least, one of the bigger questions towards Bush's second term is how his relationship with the Congress will change. The conventional wisdom has been that with the Congress under even stronger Republican control, Congress and the White House will enjoy even closer collaboration.

However, second-term presidents traditionally have more trouble with Congress than they do in the first term. Logically, this makes sense because Congress has less reason to be pliant: they're not thinking about re-electing a President anymore. And in Bush's case particularly, the historical trend stands to hold. Bush's big ticket spending legislation must not have sat well with Congressional GOP conservatives, true conservatives who believe in fiscal responsibility.

The fault lines could be opening already. This article is a fairly bland piece on inter-camera wrangling over immigration provisions in the intelligence reform bill, but when you read between the lines, this statement stands out:

"Republican leaders were caught between angry conservatives, who threatened to vote against the bill, and President Bush, who insisted it should be passed."

There was some bluster between Bush and hardline conservatives in the first term, but it never really stopped anything from getting done. This is something to keep an eye on.