Wordcruncher

Mandate Baiting

The fight in us will never allow us to give any more than the 3% we lost the election by. Thus, we on the left will resist the idea of allowing the president to claim he won a “mandate.” Earlier, I wrote that November 2 proved a mandate for the Republican party agenda. I believe that remains true, if only because when comparing the two parties’ gains and losses on the national level, we were pretty clearly pushed backward.

But to me, this is a largely irrelevant argument anyway. How will Bush and the GOP govern any differently now than over the past four years? What exactly does a mandate mean?

In yesterday’s press conference, Mr. Bush mentioned that he had the “will of the people at his back.” He also mentioned the political capital he gained. Republicans will no doubt point to this as the public’s endorsement of his policies. The charming Bill Bennett is even saying this now means, in effect, that the GOP will and should launch a culture war.

I am not sure what the GOP thinks they have gained on Nov. 2 other than perhaps some idea of political legitimacy (as opposed to 2000). Let them scream mandate all they want. We should do much better than take the bait. This plays entirely into the Republican culture of victimization and furthers their “us vs. them” tactics.

Do they think this means they can steamroll their agenda over Democrats? They’ve been doing that for the past four years. Does this mean they can now implement a conservative agenda? They’ve been doing that for the past four years.

It actually smacks of desperation, even in victory. How are they going to use the term “mandate” to bludgeon us even more than they have in the past? They can’t; they’re posturing.

Lame ducks, mandate or no, rarely are able to achieve broad political change. Indeed, this sounds to me like the brandishing of a cudgel Mr. Bush will attempt to use on Republicans who will be increasingly looking after their own interests over the next four years and on Democrats who can filibuster with absolutely nothing to lose.

The media may buy it and it may lay the groundwork for “obstructionist” cries later, but in terms of real political muscle, it seems to me there just isn’t much there.