President claims mandate, sets 2nd-term goals / 'I earned capital in this campaign, political

[KurtNYC]

capital, and now I intend to spend it'

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Bush-claims-mandate-sets-2nd-term-goals-I-2637116.php#ixzz2BXsMX5nL

Just to be fair, President Obama should embrace his re-election as evidence that Americans embrace his plans to reform healthcare, let the 1% tax cuts expire, stack the Supreme Court with liberals, protect the sanctity of Americans' vaginas, create more jobs, and transition to more alternative fuel sources. He too can pledge to work in a bipartisan manner (only) with "everyone who shares our goals."

[BlueStreak]

1. Bush's "mandate" was 286-251 -- i.e. one state

It is not Obama's style to be confrontational in public. I do hope that behind closed doors he delivers a clear message to McConnell and Boehner, such as:

"OK guys. Let me explain where things stand. I ran on a number of positions. The election was a referendum on those issues and I won in a landslide. We can have good discussions about how best to structure and implement those policies, but I intend to deliver what I promised to the people. We can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way. My door is open. I'll look at multiple ways to accomplish the things I have promised.
But understand this. I am not running again. I don't have to worry about how this affects my reelection. You want to play a game of chicken? Go ahead and shut the government down. Ask Gingrich how that worked out for him. You want to take hostages on the tax policy? Just try me. We can either work together EVERY DAY of my administration, or else I can spend my days running a campaign to take the rest of the power away from you. John, what is your body's popularity rating now? 11%, is that it? I just beat Karl Rove, the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and all their money. Do you think I can't beat you with your your 11% approval?
You guys go away now and think about what you can do to be constructive partners for a change. Let's meet back here in a week ready to get to work. Next week we either start showing the public how adults work together or else I kick off the campaign to end your careers."