Mandate?

Mandate: n. That brief period of time between final election results and first opinion polls when a politician feels he has to accomplish something, anything, regardless of whether he ran on the issue.

 

It always surprises me that a politician who won 53% of the popular vote will claim to have a big mandate from the people. It further surprises me that said mandate is used to advance things like stem cell research, which we are already pursuing, and which got little mention in the campaign.

 

Let the politician remember that 47% of the electorate mandated that he go back to his day job, and proceed judiciously.

 

Of course there is a real mandate here. Anyone familiar with the electoral maps can see it. The results play the ends against the middle, or more to the point, the cities against the towns and country. The victor in this election owes his new job to LA, NY, SF and other urban centers. We can expect favors to come due shortly after January 20.