There won’t be a honeymoon.

Even with comforatable Democratic majorities in Congress, things could still prove difficult for the incoming president.

Sounds like a can’t lose proposition: A Democrat in the White House along with Democratic control of the House and Senate.

But in DC, things are never so easy.

President-elect Obama hasn’t taken the oath of office yet, but he’s already feeling the wrath of Congress.

His selection to helm the CIA, Leon Panetta, a former California congressman who served as President Clinton’s chief of staff, elicited a stern response from California Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.

And his economic stimulus plan, which includes a plan to offer $3,000 tax credits to businesses for each worker they hire has earned the Reaganesque label “trickledown.”

Add to this unemployment at a 16 year high, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war in Gaza and ongoing atrocities in Congo, the new president won’t have any chillax time.

Obama posits himself as very conciliatory, and still has time to turn things around.

But poor relationships between a Democratic Congress and White House are not without precedent. Just ask Jimmy Carter, president from 1977-1981. He had a poor relationship with Congress and was stalled at every turn. He lost when he ran for re-election in a sweeping landslide to Ronald Reagan, and has only rehabilitated his image with good deeds done post-presidency.

President Clinton didn't fare much better. Republicans swept both houses with their "Contract with America" in 1994's mid-term elections.

As Obama idolizes Lincoln, here's hoping he has learned a thing or two about Democratic presidents in recent times.

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