Asian Conservatives

Let’s be clear: there was no mandate in this year’s presidential and congressional elections. Although the Democrats won the White House and majorities in the House and Senate, the geopolitical landscape of the U.S. didn’t change that much. Still almost half of the popular votes supported McCain, and that’s after eight years of Republican leadership. Democrats captured additional seats in Congress, but they did not reach a super-majority.

Can Mr. Obama claim a mandate? The answer: a firm no-yes. This was not 1980, with a landslide 10-point, 44-state win and the will of a clear majority firmly revealed. And yet of course it’s a mandate—a clean win, a new beginning, a solid Democratic victory in the House and Senate. A friend noted the other night that George W. Bush from the beginning governed as if he had a mandate, and he’d lost the popular vote in 2000. Presidents are presidents and claim what they claim. Mr. Obama won it the old-fashioned way: he earned it. He confounded history to get it. And because he replaces a president whose unpopularity has impeded his ability to govern, he is, in a way, president from day one.