mandate?

[Robert Sheridan]

A quick Google on "bush mandate" produced an auto-generated search  
term listing some 700,00+ hits, but for 2004, where W claimed a  
mandate based on a 51% of the popular vote win over John Kerry.  In  
scanning the first page of results, I noted a reference to a claim of  
mandate by his supporters, some, at least, after the 2000 election:

http://tinyurl.com/6l8qt9

As I think about it, any president must claim the right to govern,  
whether by hook or by crook, otherwise he's handcuffed.  Some mandates  
are more impressive than others, it seems.

My take on last evening's early and handy margin of victory is that  
the country wants to see the rear of George W's policies and is  
looking forward to Obama returning to the good old American  
values...sort of a conservative position, no?

Regarding margins and mandates, "Landslide Lyndon" comes to mind.  He  
was first elected a U.S. Senator from Texas by 87 votes.  See Robert  
Caro's "Master of the Senate" for an account of how they counted, or  
created, votes at that time and place.

rs

On Nov 5, 2008, at 10:25 PM, Volokh, Eugene wrote:

>     I'm not sure which proclamation of a mandate Prof. Sheridan is  
> referring to -- but I certainly don't recall George W. Bush claiming  
> that the 2000 election constituted "a mandate for a particular  
> constitutional vision" (the subject we're describing), much less one  
> to the level that "Ackerman posits" as a constitutionally  
> transfiguring mandate.  If you can point me to some specific quote  
> in which President Bush said this, I'll be happy to respond in more  
> detail.
>
>     Eugene
>
> From: Robert Sheridan [mailto:rs at robertsheridan.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 8:54 PM
> To: Volokh, Eugene
> Cc: Discussion list for con law professors
> Subject: Re: mandate?
>
> I'll take Finkelman's mandate based on an election where even I can  
> see who won, as opposed to George W's proclamation of a mandate  
> after a 5:4 appointment by the Supreme Court.
>
> rs
>
>
> On Nov 5, 2008, at 8:27 PM, Volokh, Eugene wrote:
>
>>     Well, that, I'm sure, is the mandate represented by Prof.  
>> Finkelman's vote for Sen. Obama.  I find it hard to see where we  
>> can get the sense that there's some mandate from the people more  
>> broadly on all that -- except in the tautological sense that the  
>> people are indeed electing a particular Administration for four  
>> years (and Representatives for two and a third of the Senate for  
>> six) that will to some extent implement certain views in the way  
>> that it can during those four years.
>>
>>     Eugene
>>
>> From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu [mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu 
>> ] On Behalf Of Paul Finkelman
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 7:29 PM
>> To: Discussion list for con law professors
>> Subject: Re: mandate?
>>
>> Perhaps one that prohibits the president from holding people  
>> without trial and torturing them; where the Vice President does not  
>> claim to be outside the executive branch or claim powers beyond the  
>> Consistution (as Palin seemed to believe she could do if elected).   
>> One that is prochoice and favors implementing the 15th Amendment.  
>> It is rejecting of Bush`s Imperial Constitutionalism and the McCain/ 
>> Palin claims that the Constitution does not prohibit them from  
>> doing whatever they want.
>>
>>
>> ----
>> Paul Finkelman
>> President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
>> Albany Law School
>> 80 New Scotland Avenue
>> Albany, NY 12208
>>
>> 518-445-3386 (p)
>> 518-445-3363 (f)
>>
>> pfink at albanylaw.edu
>>
>> www.paulfinkelman.com
>>
>> --- On Wed, 11/5/08, guayiya <guayiya at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>> From: guayiya <guayiya at bellsouth.net>
>> Subject: mandate?
>> To: "Discussion list for con law professors" <CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu 
>> >, paul.finkelman at yahoo.com
>> Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 8:29 PM
>>
>> Does anyone think this election is a mandate for a particular  
>> constitutional
>> vision, as Ackerman posits for certain past elections?
>>
>> Daniel Hoffman
>> _______________________________________________
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>
> _______________________________________________
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