The President's Mandate

Beldar explains why the President, despite a 3-point margin, has a mandate from the American people.

In the only public opinion poll enshrined in our Constitution, the American public has spoken. Through the mechanisms specified in that Constitution, the results of that polling have become abundantly clear. Of course there are risks and uncertainties in the future; that would have been true too even had the result Tuesday gone the other way. But President George W. Bush does indeed have a visible, demonstrable mandate to back his constitutional powers and his discharge of his constitutional responsibilities. Without gloating, without belittling those whose votes were for his opponent, that is something that I am proud to celebrate.