Not quite. A President's power and influence over Congress is often tied very closely to his approval rating. Congress does not have to bend over backward in support of an unpopular President. The Congress is controlled by the Republican Party right now, but many members of the party do not have views that align perfectly with the President's. For example, if he proposes Social Security reform, it may not be immediately and universally supported. Its even worse for more arcane, less well-known pieces of legislation.

I'm not surprised to see that the President's approval has dipped a bit, but as Iraq stabilizes it will probably improve, to say nothing of his aggressive movement against other terrorist-supporting nations in the region. For what its worth, I'm glad he's doing something that will genuinely reduce the threat of terrorism, as opposed to that dumbass invasion of Iraq.

I must wonder, though, where the hell Osama bin Laden is.