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Obama Victory Comes With No Mandate
National Journal ^ | November 7, 2012 | Ron Fournier

Posted on 11/07/2012 9:12:17 PM PST by neverdem

Barack Obama won a second term but no mandate. Thanks in part to his own small-bore and brutish campaign, victory guarantees the president nothing more than the headache of building consensus in a gridlocked capital on behalf of a polarized public.

If the president begins his second term under any delusion that voters rubber-stamped his agenda on Tuesday night, he is doomed to fail.

Mandates are rarely won on election night. They are earned after Inauguration Day by leaders who spend their political capital wisely, taking advantage of events without overreaching. Obama is capable—as evidenced by his first-term success with health care reform. But mandate-building requires humility, a trait not easily associated with him.

“The mandate is a myth,” said John Altman, associate professor of political science at York College of Pennsylvania. “But even if there was such a thing as a mandate, this clearly isn’t an election that would produce one.”

He pointed to Obama’s small margin of victory and the fact that U.S. voters are divided deeply by race, gender, spirituality, and party affiliation. You can’t claim to be carrying out the will of the people when the populous has little shared will.

Andrew Jackson was the first president to claim that the desires of the public overrode Congress’s constitutional prerogatives. Virtually every president since Jackson has claimed the mantle, even while lacking two ingredients of an electoral mandate: a landslide victory and a specific agenda. More often than not, Congress trims the president’s sails, leaving both the leader and his followers disappointed.

“Presidential claims to a mandate, such as President [George] W. Bush in 2004, are misleading to the public and the officeholder,” said Anthony Brunello, professor of political science at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Some mandates are easily and obviously claimed, usually as an extension of calamitous events. Examples: Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression, Lyndon Johnson after the assassination of John Kennedy, and Bush after 9/11.

Claiming a mandate can lead a president down policy paths that are reckless and unpopular. Bill Clinton overreached on health care reform in his first term and Bush misread his reelection as a mandate for Social Security reform in 2005.

In a capital as polarized as Washington, even a landslide victory and detailed campaign platform wouldn’t secure a president’s agenda.

“Mandates may not exist in Washington anymore with the hyper-partisanship we now see associated with every substantive or political move on the Hill,” said Steve McMahon, strategist for Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.

“I’m generally an optimist, but it’s hard to see how there is a mandate for anything other than more of what we’ve seen the last several years,” said GOP strategist Mark McKinnon, who helped elect and reelect the younger President Bush. “There’s not a good scenario for how this turns out.”

Obama hurt his cause by running a hard-edged and negative campaign against Republican Mitt Romney, hoping to convince recession-weary voters that his rival was unworthy of the job. He gave lip service to an agenda, publishing scaled-back and repackaged ideas from his first term in a 20-page pamphlet. Obama’s message was often microtargeted to Democratic coalitions rather than the broad electorate.

“To me, as a supporter, it’s been frustrating because President Obama had the opportunity ... to make his campaign about something larger,” said Democratic consultant Carter Eskew, top strategist to Al Gore in 2000.

Mike McCurry, former press secretary for President Clinton, said it’s easy to criticize candidates for ducking solutions to the nation’s intractable problems such as budget deficits, social mobility, and poverty. But the fact is, any campaign proposal would have been grounds for attack.

“My guess is, neither candidate offered specifics because it would have been politically untenable,” McCurry said.

McKinnon said voters would have rewarded Obama or Romney for addressing hard truths. “People are hungry for an agenda, hungry for specifics, hungry for anything that looks like a solution,” McKinnon said. “I think there are ways to do it without painting yourself in a corner.”

So the vagaries of history, his times, and his message will deny Obama an automatic mandate. He has to earn it. The question is, how?

First, lower expectations. Obama promised voters he would change the nature of politics in his first term. He failed. Rather than promise the unattainable, Obama needs to acknowledge the difficulty of tasks ahead, starting with curbing the nation’s debt.

Eskew suggested Obama say something like: “Look, I learned some things in Washington. I thought we could all get along, and I learned that is not the case. I want to do some things for the country but I can’t do them unless people support me—not just in the election, but also after.”

Second, commit to the hard and humbling work of governing. Schmooze with lawmakers, hold regular news conferences, travel the country to tout legislation, and dig into the details of bills and regulations.

Karen Hughes, an adviser to George W. Bush, had this advice for the famously aloof president: “Get in the limo and go to the Hill and get seen working with lawmakers. People will appreciate the effort.”

Third, reach out to Republicans with concrete and symbolic gestures. “There is going to have to be compromise to get anything done, especially with big issues,” said Mike Feldman, another strategist on Gore’s 2000 campaign.

Obama may need to bring in new advisors who can work with Republicans. "He needs to ignore the blind partisans from either party, and find the uniters," said Democratic consultant Chris Kofinis. "If he does he will become an even more historic president."

McCurry noted that soon after his 1980 victory, Ronald Reagan reappointed popular former Democratic Sen. Mike Mansfield as ambassador to Japan. “Gestures like that build goodwill,” McCurry said. “It’s increasingly how you claim the mandate and how you move forward that determines the outcome.”

Altman, the political science professor from Pennsylvania, struggled for the advice he would give no-mandate Obama. “You are going to govern unsuccessfully. You are going to fail,” he said with a chuckle.

But then he hedged. Maybe expectations would be lower for Obama than they were in 2009, Altman said. “They expect him to just hang on for another four years and hopefully not screw it up too much,” Altman said. “They will take 2016 as a new day.”

That’s not much of a mandate. But it is a second chance.

Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Gore in 2000, said Obama should set his sights accordingly. “The only mandate that will be clear as daylight,” she said, “is to break the gridlock of Washington.”


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: mandate; obama; vote2012

1 posted on 11/07/2012 9:12:21 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

It is up to use to make him a 4 year lame duck. Hold the line.


2 posted on 11/07/2012 9:19:01 PM PST by dila813
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To: neverdem

I think Fournier completely misreads the situation. Obama has discovered and refined the art of “Executive Orders” and is extremely dangerous just on that point.

However, he also has his handpicked squad of assassins: Lisa Jackson at EPA and Kathleen Sebelius at HHS, not to forget Salazar at Interior and the other dwarfs. Anytime Snow White Obama snaps his fingers, evil spells can be cast by any of those dwarfs and one or another private business die or at least feel mortal pain all of which costs you and me, American consumers. So much for freedom and liberty - we had those under GW much as the MSM and many “conservatives” like to malign him.


3 posted on 11/07/2012 9:24:29 PM PST by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: neverdem

Lame duck. Executive order.


4 posted on 11/07/2012 9:28:34 PM PST by TheRhinelander
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To: Rembrandt

If the House is serious they stay in session 365. It only takes one.


5 posted on 11/07/2012 9:43:32 PM PST by eyedigress ((zOld storm chaser from the west)/?)
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To: neverdem

Obama doesn’t need or care about a mandate. He’ll do whatever he wants, with executive order, because he knows John “highway bill” Boehner isn’t going to do jack shit on impeachment and neither will anyone else in the GOP. Hell they’ll probably go along with it just to “get along”


6 posted on 11/07/2012 9:48:40 PM PST by Domandred (Fdisk, format, and reinstall the entire .gov system.)
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To: neverdem
"Obama Victory Comes With No Mandate"

Not in the minds of Obama, Axelrod, Jarrett, Holder and ... Michelle.

7 posted on 11/07/2012 10:10:17 PM PST by Baynative
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To: Rembrandt; TheRhinelander

“I think Fournier completely misreads the situation. Obama has discovered and refined the art of “Executive Orders” and is extremely dangerous just on that point.”

Given that he doesn’t have to worry about reelection, I believe he will use EOs as decrees and will dare the house republicans to stop him. He has said so explicitley. Also with Roberts Obamacare ruling, he won’t fear the courts either.

And with his alter ego Valerie Jarrett saying that if Obama wins it’ll be “payback time”, the next few years, as the chinese say, will be very interesting times.


8 posted on 11/07/2012 10:33:12 PM PST by aquila48
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To: eyedigress
If the House is serious they stay in session 365. It only takes one.

What's that supposed to do?

9 posted on 11/08/2012 1:00:45 AM PST by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: Domandred
He’ll do whatever he wants, with executive order, because he knows John “highway bill” Boehner isn’t going to do jack shit on impeachment and neither will anyone else in the GOP.

What's the point of impeachment when you don't have the votes to remove? Clinton proved that it backfires when consequences are minimal.

Holder should have been impeached when they charged him with contempt for Fast and Furious. Then senators not voting to remove Holder could have been held accountable on Nov. 6.

10 posted on 11/08/2012 1:16:59 AM PST by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

EO’s cannot be executed within session right?


11 posted on 11/08/2012 1:25:46 AM PST by eyedigress ((zOld storm chaser from the west)/?)
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To: dila813

For Obama to follow the advice in this article, he would have to actually “work” and that is something this “celebrity” President is incapable of. He uses his office as a means to golf, entertain celebrities and tyrants of his choosing with outrageously extravagant, tax-payer funded events and to push through a radical agenda. He no interest in “getting along” with voters or even those in his own party. He is not so much as President as he is a dictator and a tyrant - working and communicating with the taxpayers are not important to him. (Not to mention that in his mind, the taxpayers who support his lavash parties and Michelle’s lavish vacations are too stupid for him to even be bothered with - something that he doesn’t bother to try to hide.)


12 posted on 11/08/2012 3:09:04 AM PST by onevoter
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To: neverdem

And lack of a “mandate” has stopped Obama when?


13 posted on 11/08/2012 4:52:31 AM PST by NRA1995 (CNN should be PNN (Propaganda, Never News))
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To: Rembrandt

he also has his handpicked squad of assassins: Lisa Jackson at EPA and Kathleen Sebelius at HHS, not to forget Salazar at Interior “””

yesterday, I caught the rerun of Monday night’s Charlie Rose show on PBS.

Thomas Freidman was extolling the virtues of these 3 & others in Obama’s cabinet.

The media is the leader of the stupid and those interested only in something for free.

One thing about all these youg people fawning over Obama——I will be long gone & THEY will be paying the bill for his borrowing for the rest of their lives. They will have years to think about the choices they made.


14 posted on 11/08/2012 5:44:05 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: Domandred

Marxist bitch in the white house is a negro and ya can’t do or say anything bad about this pile of dung or get labeled racist.


15 posted on 11/08/2012 7:31:56 AM PST by Joe Boucher ((FUBO))
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To: neverdem

“Obama Victory Comes With No Mandate”

Really? After hearing that victory speech, I thought that his was the only name on everyone else’s ballots...


16 posted on 11/08/2012 4:58:15 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: eyedigress
EO’s cannot be executed within session right?

That's recess appointments when the Senate is in session. Think of his EO for the virtual Dream Act by ICE.

17 posted on 11/08/2012 7:47:57 PM PST by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: NRA1995
And lack of a “mandate” has stopped Obama when?

When he needs bills passed by Congress. All executive orders can be reversed by the next president.

18 posted on 11/08/2012 8:00:01 PM PST by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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