“You’ve got to give it all you can, that first year,” the president told a senior advisor. “Doesn’t matter what kind of majority you come in with. You’ve got just one year when they treat you right.” President Obama, however, did not utter these words of wisdom to Rahm Emanuel or David Axelrod last month. Lyndon Johnson said them to his aide Harry McPherson nearly a half-century ago.

Fleeting power and fickle public opinion are enduring challenges for presidents. This reality contributes to the “strike while the iron is hot” mentality we witness with most new presidents dealing with Congress–particularly those with large, friendly majorities on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Lyndon Johnson understood this; and so does Barack Obama.