Tom Toles for November 08, 2012

If you LOOK at how close the actual votes WERE, there IS no mandate! The country’s CLEARLY divided on the issues! This ISN’T an Electorate mandate!

A mandate for more freebies! After all, we are only 16 trillion in the hole.

Again….I’ll say it slooowwwer so you can understaaannnndddddd…..The total votes cast shows a nearly split down the middle vote when you consider the popular vote. That means he still has half the country to convince…and Obama’s doing a pi*s-poor job of it!

Gee, remember when Fox News, LImbaugh, Robertson, Beck, and the righties demanded that SCOTUS (and “God”) gave Bush a “mandate” to lead?

they were not correct and neither is anyone who thinks obama has a mandate - 50 % popular votes indicates different- spin any way you want to. time to dump this 19 century aspest of our democracy - popular vote should be the only critera for elected office.

Sorry Dems, O’s goody bag is empty now. Here comes the pain.

Tom, I’m an Obama supporter, but that is not a mandate, no matter what Fox said about Bush’s victory.-Or did I misunderstand the point of the cartoon?

I did better than Kerry? Gosh!This election was mostly a referendum on whether we should return to Bush era polices. That’s what I really represented.It was also a referendum on our social safety net. I suggested we change Medicare into a non-guaranteed benefit by giving vouchers that probably wouldn’t have covered the whole cost of health care for future retirees. I made overturning Obamacare a centerpiece of my campaign.My policies were rejected. I can only hope future Republicans learn from this.

Considering what the 1% spent to defeat POTUS, it is a mandate.

…I suspect that some of Trump’s lawyers explained the definition of “sedition” to him.

I voted for him too, but 51% is hardly a mandate. It’s more of a “I don’t have a third choice?”

Even if you took all their money it wouldn’t get whittled down to zero. Educate yourself on the economy. Neither major party will do anything about the 16 trillion because they are both owned by Wall Street.

Bush blew his 2004 “mandate” almost immediately by pushing for the privatization of Social Security. I did not hear Obama say he had a “mandate”. That type of hubris generally leads to an over reach. I just hope Boehner and McConnell can get over their anti-Obama mindset (and their traitorous pledge to Grover Norquist!) and actually WORK with the president!

Nantucket19: AMEN! I just heard a tea-party spokeswoman on our local rightie station saying the party needs to move further right, and recruit more like-minded candidates! And even though Allen West CHOSE to run in a different district, she blamed the Florida Republican party for his defeat, then said “We can only hope they find evidence of voter fraud!” OY!!!

Remember the Electoral College can vote the other way. The election is not over!

Mandate, like “hero” is a much debased word in today’s world. By the definition the Republicans have used since Reagan (who was elected in 1980 with 51% of the 48% of eligible voters), this was a mandate. But we’ve also seen what train wrecks can come from taking this definition and applying it.With tax revenues at a 60-some year low compared to GDP, some taxes will have to rise. Continuing only to cut taxes as Romney suggested was a pipe dream that hasn’t ever brought the magic money-from-nothing he proposed. But this stat also shows how divorced the GDP and the fortunes of large companies have become from the rest of the country. We can’t balance the books with tax hikes alone. There will have to be cuts.Hopefully now Simpson Bowles or something very like it can be considered.

Let us put in prospective, he won by more electorial votes than Bush did in both his “wins”. So if Bush had a MANDATE, then I would say that Obama surely has a mandate.

This election was not a mandate for anyone. It was a statement by the electorate that we want centrists who will work for all Americans instead of focusing on the issues of extremists on either side. We want politicians who will build bridges instead blocking legislation. The only “man date” I want to hear about is Obama, Reid, McConnall, and Boehnor sitting down to resolve the differences in legislation. That’s a “man” date I can get behind.Leaders who don’t communicate aren’t leading. Whether in the white house, the congress, or the senate…Lead, follow, or get out of the way!.Respectfully,C.

I love Chris Matthews saying thank god for Sandy.I guess he figured Obama couldnt win without killing a few people

If it was just Obama winning, it wouldn’t be a mandate. When the Dems pick up Seanate and House seats in the kind of economic and political environment we currently have – then it’s edging towards mandate status.

And then we have a mandate in congress! Obama can’t ruin the country as swiftly at least. But he WON’T work with congress.

Use it, indeed.

Let’s check the definition of “mandate.” It does not mean a blank check, a license to do what you want. It means you are required to do something. In the case of the presidency, it means a requirement to run the country. Sixteen hour days, no clear path forward, history breathing down your neck — do your job!

I voted for Obama, but I would not call the results a “mandate”.

um, what mandate? There were people who based their vote on how Presidential he looked surveying the damage from Hurricane Sandy.

A mandate indeed. Obama won every ‘battleground’ state except North Carolina. It was a convincing, decisive win.

If you take more money from people they will have less to spend and generally that is not good for the economy and will result in less tax revenue since there would be less economic activity.

Example: Sony made this spiffy 24" 3D TV and initially priced it at $399. No one purchased it and they were losing money on it. Price was dropped to $199 and it’s selling fairly well, my local Best Buy moves quite a few of them now, but following your logic, Sony should have increased it ‘s price to increase it’s revenue and that would not have worked.

Don’t Republicans have access to dictionaries? What do you think the word ‘mandate’ means?

Hoe does winning by less that 5% of the popular vote constitute a mandate?

“In Canada and the UK, a party claims to have a mandate if it wins a majority of seats, even though (as almost always happens) it has less than a majority of votes, so by that standard Obama does indeed have a mandate.”

You kind of have to have more than two viable parties for that to work. If you’re splitting your seats three ways (or more), holding more than 50% of them is pretty impressive; you don’t need a coalition even to get a simple majority. Here, holding a simple majority isn’t enough (particularly in that different parties control the House and the Senate). With a TRUE mandate, you don’t NEED bipartisanship.

Reflex: Are you kidding? Even IF these tax cuts come about, there is no way in Hades that the deficit will be “whittled” down to zero!!!!! What planet are you from?

“I agree with that statement. A mandate is psychological; claiming it is not the same as having it. Like “pornography”, I can’t define a “mandate” but I know it when I see it. If Obama says he’s got a mandate and that buys him some cooperation, then he has one. If he says he’s got one and the GOP still says “get stuffed,” then he doesn’t have one.”

In short, you don’t have a mandate just because you believe you have it. You have a mandate because the other guys believe you have it.

Probably the only U.S. President who ever had a true mandate (as in “Supreme executive power must derive from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!”) was George Washington. When the voice of the people rises as one (or close as dammit) and says “Lead us! Lead us! We will not let you say no!” it’s pretty much mandatory that you take the job.

The GOP got shellacked. Get over it. We no longer have them screwing us over with their big-government meddling in Colorado, it’s refreshing!

OK Obama, it’s Show Time! Don’t cater to the right anymore. Kick their a$$es, PLEASE!

Gore: 51,003,894Bush: 50,459,211

Nope, 2000 wasn’t a mandate, nor is this years, unless you see that these close elections means it SHOULD fall on the leaders in the House and Senate to work together, for the good of ALL citizens, not just the rich, the poor, the corporations, or their campaign contributors under “Citizens United” rules.

If you listened you heard Fox repeatedly say that. If you don’t like Fox, catch John Stewart, he usually rebroadcasts their insanity for the amusement of the un-brainwashed.

I keep hearing about this “free stuff” Can you tell me where this “stuff” is? sheesh- get real

When at least half the country voted for Romney — probably more, considering all the reports of fraud and 140% or registered voters voting in a number of counties, as reported so far — “mandate” is the last word that should be used for Obama’s continuing occupation of the White House.