The president has a significant amount of power; however, this power is not unlimited, as it is kept in check by both the judiciary and the legislature. The president is held responsible for passing laws that will improve the lives of ordinary Americans, even as he shares his legislative powers with Congress. Power sharing is an obstacle to the president's ability to pass legislation quickly and in the form originally intended. However, Americans do not take this into account when judging a president, as they expect him to keep all the promises he made during his campaign. By making promises to pass monumental legislation once elected without mentioning that Congress represents an obstacle that must first be overcome, the president creates unrealistic expectations about what he can accomplish during his term (Jenkins-Smith, Silva, & Waterman, 2005). . A president is expected to have the characteristics that will allow him to lead the nation efficiently and effectively and achieve the goals set during his campaign (Jenkins-Smith et al., 2005). There have been some presidents who have been immortalized as the ideal person to lead the United States and if a president does not live up to these high expectations the American public will inevitably be disappointed. Since every president is expected to accomplish great things during his presidency, he is forced to create and project a favorable image through unrealistic promises. The combination of preconceived ideas about the perfect president and the various promises made by presidential candidates during their election campaigns create unrealistic expectations of the president from the American public. The constitutional...... middle of paper......aign. Works Cited Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Theda Skocpol. Healthcare reform and American politics: Everyone needs to know. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print. Jenkins-Smith, Hank C., Carol L. Silva, and Richard W. Waterman. “Micro- and Macro-Level Models of the Presidential Expectations Gap.” The newspaper of politics 67.03 (2005): 690-715. Print.Rivers, Douglas and Nancy L. Rose. “Approval of the President's Program: Public Opinion and Presidential Influence in Congress.” American Journal of Political Science 29.2 (1985): 183-96. JSTOR. Network. May 19, 2014. Stephenson, Matthew C. “Does Separation of Powers Promote Stability and Moderation?” TheJournal of Legal Studies 42.2 (2013): 331-68. JSTOR. Network. May 19, 2014.Wayne, Stephen J. Personality and Politics: Obama for and Against Himself. Washington, DC:CQ, 2012. Print.