Obama’s Mandate

January 9, 2010 at 11:35 am | Posted in politics straight up, senate | 2 Comments
Tags: Barack Obama, Jon Kyl, mandate, politics, Republican obstruction

I was reading this morning about another instance of Republican obstruction in the Senate and it occurred to me how interesting it is that we never hear the word “mandate” any more.

Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, Senate majority leader, 1955 Sept. (Library of Congress)

Throughout Bush’s second term, the public, but especially Democrats, were constantly reminded that Bush and his party had a mandate to govern and legislate as they saw saw fit.

In September 2007 Steve Benen pointed out:

For years, Republicans, with a 55-seat majority, cried like young children if Dems even considered a procedural hurdle. They said voters would punish obstructionists. They said it was borderline unconstitutional. They said to stand in the way of majority rule was to undermine a basic principle of our democratic system.

So let me ask Republicans today: Where is your respect for the clear mandate extended to Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in the November 2008 elections?

UPDATE (1/20/10): You would think I would have been less naive when I wrote this post, but Perrspective’s post on this issue makes it clear that the problem is not with disrespect by Republicans but by the President and Democratic Party leaders of their own party platform and agenda.