Does Obama have an Electoral Mandate?

Shortly after Barack Obama became sworn in as President of the United States he made it clear to congress and the G.O.P that he (and the democrats) won the 2008 elections and therefore had some power. "I Won" is what President Obama responded while discussing what should and should not be considered in the stimulus package. This statement alone sure suggests that Obama gained electoral mandate or political capital by wining the election.

Obama won the 2008 election 53% to 46% of the popular votes. This is a rather large gap, especially today. However Aldrich said that, "In a close election a vote split as large as 60 - 40 would be understood as very large, but the disadvantaged party nonetheless would be supported by a very large minority of that group" (Aldrich 8). With this perspective, Obama may have won by almost 10% but this still does not mean that the minority of voters are not strong and this percentage which is less than the 60 - 40 split does not necessarily give him this mandate.

Also, parties within themselves are very different and the democratic party and voters who voted for Obama may have many different views on different policies and ideas Obama held. He may also be in some voters eyes "the lesser of two evils". These differences within parties, and the large, but still small win over McCain may make it seem that Obama doesn't hold a strong electoral mandate. This might be true in a different situation but the reasons as to why people voted and the message the democratic party was sending during the election seems to give Obama a mandate anyways.

After eight years of the Bush Administration, the G.O.P and Bush had very low approval ratings. People were not pleased with the way in which this administration handled the past eight years and were not pleased with the policies that were created. This led to a cry for change and for something completely new. Because Obama came and presented himself as a new way to deal with government, as someone who would rise above the failed policies that so many people, even Republicans were upset about, during a time when change was needed gave him this sort of trust and political mandate. It may look as if he is not as strong as people thought he would be in putting forth the new, however he pushed for bipartisanship when he talked about change. He may not have a electoral mandate to take over from a completely liberal stance, but he has more power to force people to cross over and deal with things from a "middle of the road" stance.