During President Trump’s speech to Congress on March 5, he offered no olive branch to Democrats, nor to the people who did not vote for him last November. Instead, he made clear his intention to use what he described as a “mandate” to usher in a “golden age” for America.

Along the way, the president showcased things he has done in his first weeks in office which, so far, have little appeal to the American public. He is betting the House that he can ignore the polls and do what he wants.

Whether that will be an effective governing strategy remains to be seen.

For as long as people have been writing about politics, they have been trying to figure out the most effective strategies for governing. In democracies, that would seem to be easy: do what wins elections. But on closer examination, even that is not as simple as it appears. Public opinion is not fixed; what is popular in one moment may be rejected in the next.

Moreover, keeping a finger in the wind to see how it blows can make a party look weak or indecisive. Or the party in power may decide it is worth accomplishing something, even if it comes at a political cost. It may be hopeful or confident that it can recover in time for the next election.

Whatever the policy, polls show that many Americans crave strong leadership that can bring radical change. That desire is registered in surveys showing that 55 percent of the respondents say “the current political and economic system needs major changes, with another 14 percent saying it should be torn down completely.”

A president who is weak cannot accomplish that because, as political commentator Bill Schneider

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