When you've got a war to manage, it's hard to give everyone your full attention. But the president must put his shoulder into the debate over an economic stimulus package or nothing is going to get done. That's the opinion of members of Congress anyway, who are only getting farther away from compromise. Their debate has an almost quaint pre-war partisan bitterness to it: Democrats say Republican tax cuts are for the rich, and Republicans claim Democratic spending plans are inefficient and wasteful. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is saying no bill is better than a bad bill, and House Republican leaders are cranking up the invective, blaming the Senate leader for holding back the recovery.

Behind all this snorting and hollering is a fundamental fear that members of both parties share. They've got to go home for the holidays with some kind of gift package under their arms. Yesterday, the administrator of economic names made it official: we're in a recession. Members didn't need the National Bureau of Economic Research to tell them that. Their constituents are the ones being downsized. The factories and small shops that are closing are in their districts.

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nginx/1.14.0 (Ubuntu) Angry constituents have already proved a focusing force in Congress. When bickering and finger pointing threatened to kill the airline security bill, Congress found a solution just in time for the Thanksgiving recess. The traditional references to the sturdy pilgrim forefathers were replaced with crowd-pleasing boasts of having made the skies safer. But now there's real worry among the 535 men and women who have come back to the capitol that Congress might still be pulling hair and calling names when the Christmas break bell goes off.

So, enter the president. Or maybe not. The White House knows how well it has worked for President Bush to stay out of the fray, and Bush and his advisers are going to be very careful about putting too much of the president's capital on the line. Staying out of the fights over the details and announcing only broad guidelines allows the administration to claim victory over whatever may pass. The White House knows that the more partisan role the president plays, the more it may threaten his strong bi-partisan position as war leader. And finally, some in the White House believe their hand is so strong, they can make Congress get in line. "We saw Clinton do it to us every time," says one senior White House aide. "When Congress complains about a popular president it just looks like whining."

Sure, those in Bush II don't want to repeat the elder President Bush's mistake of losing the domestic ground while winning the foreign war, but the White House has seen great benefit from keeping the president out of the fray. It protects him politically, but it also gets results. "We maintained this posture and we got an airline security bill," says an administration member involved in the stimulus strategy. "How is that hurting us?"

Members of Bush's own party realize a wartime president can't play legislative cop all the time, but they are now pleading for action. "I understand what he's doing staying above the fray," says Ohio Congressman Rob Portman, a key White House ally on the Hill, "but the president is going to have to engage a little more if he doesn't want us to be paralyzed." Some high ranking Republicans are less modulated than Portman, complaining that the White House is selling out fellow Republicans to protect the president's political interests. As Bush blames Congress for inaction, his fellow GOP members who are up for election next year hear the arrows buzzing past their ears. "Doesn't he know when he blames Congress he's blaming us?" asks one influential member of the Republican-controlled House.

This Wednesday, Bush may pick his moment to wade in. Moderates in both parties have fashioned a compromise package that the White House may be warm to. But Congress isn't off the hook yet. Bush will assess the chances for passage in his weekly breakfast with top Congressional leaders Wednesday before making any bold moves. Says one senior aide: "He'll get a read and then determine what to do."