I told you so

I’m not generally one given to “I told you so”s, but I’ll make an exception in this case. I’m projecting that in 4 years, I’m going to be saying “I told you so” to the 51% of voters that chose to re-elect Bush. It’s hard to imagine that Bush will truly rise up over the atrocious record of the past four years.

Meanwhile, I wasn’t surprised to see this: Bush Wins White House, Reaches Out to Foes

Vice President Dick Cheney (news – web sites) said Bush’s win by 3.5 million votes over Kerry was “a mandate” for his second term agenda for the future.

Yes, once again the administration is claiming a mandate. It was absolutely ridiculous before, because Bush didn’t even win the popular vote in 2000. Now, it’s not quite as bad… but winning by 3% is not a mandate. Look at history. Reagan, Nixon, Johnson… these folks could claim that they had a mandate from the people, because they demolished their opponents.

On the flip side, their claim of mandate can come from the fact that the Republicans have extended their majority in Congress. That will certainly be part of the “I told you so”s that will come later.