an enviable balance of political capital and a strong mandate. would you make that claim today? do you still have that? >> i would say i'm spending that capital on the war. >> not only did plummeting support for the iraq war erode bush's ability to drive his second term agenda, but he aels overreached with the social security privatization push. his efforts on immigration reform then collapsed under the weight of the other issues. the administration bungled the response for hurricane katrina and relations with congress soured to the point that when bush nominated harriet myers to the supreme court, republicans didn't even fall in line. many conservatives privately and publicly called her unqualified. after three weeks bush was forced to withdraw her nomination. in december of 2008 shortly before he left office bush's job approval rating had suj to a miserable 27%. congress had often been a thorn in the side of second term presidents. it's a real question whether president obama will be able to forge a closer working relationship with congress this time around. then, of course, there's the