work very well . As president after president has discovered , there are innumerable ways opponents can stop measures from getting passed , even if the president 's party holds a majority in Congress . The Senate has its own rule that 's not in the Constitution requiring a super-majority of 60 Senate votes to control the agenda . A minority of 41 senators can `` filibuster '' a measure and prevent it from coming up for a vote . How many votes will Republicans have in the Senate ? 41 or 42 , depending on the outcome in Minnesota where ballots are still being counted . Presidents often have problems holding their own party together . That 's because members of Congress are elected by local constituencies and they are expected to represent local interests . American politicians are independent political entrepreneurs . They are not foot-soldiers of a party . When Bill Clinton first became president , he had a solid Democratic majority in Congress . But he could not get his health care reform plan passed . After an intense advertising campaign by opponents , many Americans were worried that the Clintons were planning a government takeover
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Be bold ! Think big ! Barack Obama wants to do just that . An $ 800 billion economic stimulus plan . Three million jobs . Health care reform . A restructured automobile industry . Obama 's popularity with voters will win him influence with political opponents . Obama won the biggest Democratic majority for president in 44 years . His party made big gains in Congress . Democrats now have a majority of nearly 60 percent in both the House and Senate . President Obama 's got a mandate . And a majority . What 's to stop him ? Just this : the U.S. system of government . It is set up to make it difficult to get things done . The Constitution was written 222 years ago by men who did n't trust government . They had just waged a revolution against a king . To the founders of the American republic , strong government meant despotism . So they set up a system with an elaborate separation of powers . The idea was to ensure weak government . The dirty little secret of American government is that it was designed not to