Obama can't have a mandate

Apparently only Bush can have one.

Jonathan Turley:

Novatics: 3.5 Million Vote Margin for Bush is a Mandate But An Over 7 Million Vote Margin for Obama is No Mandate

Robert Novak has long been dismissed by rational people as a mean-spirited hack. However, he has really out done himself. Novak quickly dismissed the 7 million vote margin of Barack Obama as not a mandate while, in 2004, he said it was obvious that a 3.5 million margin for President Bush was such a mandate. Novak mathematics — or Novatics — appears to demand three times the margin of a Republican for a Democrat to declare a mandate.

Mandate:

1. a command or authorization to act in a particular way on a public issue given by the electorate to its representative: The president had a clear mandate to end the war.
[snip]
Origin:
1540–50; < class="ital-inline">mandātum, n. use of neut. of mandātus, ptp. of mandāre to commission, lit., to give into (someone's) hand.

Paul Krugman on Obama's mandate:

A magnificent victory for Barack Obama. And bear in mind that the campaign, in its final stages, was really about different philosophies of governing. This wasn’t like the 2004 campaign, which was essentially fought over fake issues — Bush running on national security and social issues, then claiming that he had a mandate to privatize Social Security. In this election, Obama proudly stood up for progressive values and the superiority of progressive policies; John McCain, in return, denounced him as a socialist, a redistributor. And the American people rendered their verdict.

Now the work begins.

It looks like everyone who voted for Obama has an item to put on the mandate list.

San Francisco Chronicle:

President-elect Barack Obama's resounding election triumph was greeted Wednesday from nearly every quarter in Washington as a mandate for change. What was most striking after a resounding victory that also added at least five Democrats to the Senate and 23 to the House, was how gingerly Democratic leaders treated their new mandate.

It is "not a mandate for any political party or any ideology," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., "but a mandate to get over those things that divide us and focus on getting things done."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, warned that Obama comes to office with "more expectations than any president I can ever remember in my lifetime," and quickly sought to dampen them, citing the constraints of two wars and a sinking economy.

Even Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said, "I don't think it's a mandate for the New Deal. ... I think it's a mandate that the political class in this country has an obligation to young people in this country to stop fighting over stuff that might have been a big issue 25 years ago but it isn't anymore."

Advocates on the left quickly pushed back.

Obama is going to have everyone hanging on his coat and yelling to get his attention. Take a deep breath and center yourself, Mr. President-elect. It's going to get louder from now on out...