Now that he has won the election, we hear the president talk about his "political capital" and we hear conservative commentators talk about his "mandate". Does President Bush have a mandate now, on the heels of 27-vote victory (or a 3% victory in the popular vote)? Perhaps he does, but the mandate doesn't seem to be an affirmation of his administration as a whole. We have to ask ourselves, and in order to be intellectually honest, the Bush administration needs to ask themselves a question:
What exactly are the American PeopleŽ mandating that George Bush do?
Well, what issues was he elected on? Based on the exit polls, we can conclude that he has a mandate to continue fighting terrorism. There, I think he does have a clear mandate, since an overwhelming majority, even of those who didn't vote for him, said they preferred the president's policies on terrorism.
He also has a mandate on socio-cultural issues, it seems, since that seemed to be the single issue that pushed him over the top. The people support his opposition to gay marriage, and possibly abortion.
Now, the trickier question: On what issues does the president NOT have a mandate? This is an important question, because it identifies the places he needs to really work even-handedly with the dissenters if he doesn't want to deepen the already bleeding fissures in the American population.
Well, the most telling evidence would be to look at the issues on which people voted against him.
He doesn't seem to have a mandate on his Iraq policy -- voters concerned with Iraq overwhelmingly voted for Sen. Kerry. That seems like one place where he could work with a few naysayers (and it's not like there aren't plenty to choose from).
Also, he doesn't seem to have a mandate on healthcare either, since healthcare-minded voters also mostly voted for Kerry. There's a wide-open field for a mutually acceptable healthcare initiative.
We can see that on some issues there is a mandate for the American people. But the president has his "political capital" in gift certificates.
The majority is with him on some issues, but on the other matters, I think he might be well advised to tread lightly. I somehow doubt he will.
