A mandate?

Washington Times: President Bush clinched a second term yesterday after Sen. John Kerry decided against forcing a dramatic political standoff, clearing the way for the Bush team to declare a mandate for four more years.

Times-Picayune: Emboldened by substantial gains in Congress, Republicans declared that Tuesday's election gives them a mandate to push a more conservative agenda.

Yahoo! News (AP): The White House claimed a second-term mandate Thursday for President Bush's agenda to keep taxes low and revamp Social Security, appealing to Democrats to help bridge America's political divide after a bitter election.

At 51% of the popular vote, no one should be claiming a mandate. One state made the difference. One. But don't expect the Administration to see it any other way. And they'll be selling it to us to justify pushing through their agenda.

The New York Times reminds us, though: Four years ago, according to Vice President Dick Cheney, when Mr. Bush lost the popular vote and seemed to be in a position where consensus-seeking was a given, White House officials thought about taking a compromise centrist route for "about 30 seconds" before grabbing their old partisan agenda and running with it. In his speech yesterday, Mr. Cheney stressed the president's mandate. Given the way Mr. Cheney behaved during the first term, it's unnerving to imagine what he may have in mind now.