Voter Mandate?

With all the political posturing going on in Wisconsin, I thought to myself, is this what the voters wanted? Is this what the voters were saying in the 2010 Mid-term elections?  I was watching a news clip about the Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, when one of the political bloggers being interviewed commented  that The Governor has always been fiscally conservative, but never during his campaign for office he never intimated anything about ending collective bargaining for public employees. That actually shocked me, not so much because a politician rarely tells the truth but, he had hidden his true intentions to the voting public. Furthermore, had he been truthful about his intent, would he had even been elected to office?

I started to think about the whole concept of voter mandate, what does that really mean? Does a mandate mean that you can ignore the realties that surround you? Does a voter mandate mean that you don't have to work with your colleagues,  rather that be on the state level or federal level. So, I started at the beginning, what does the word mandate mean in the context of politics; In politics, a mandate is the authority granted by a constituency to act as its representative. 

The next question I had, was there a voter mandate for the Republican parties agenda?  I should also note that prior to the 2010 Mid-term elections four major things were of significance?  The unemployment factor/jobs, the emergence of the TEA party, the growing concerns about the deficit, and the low approval for the President and the Congress.    It is safe to say that for most people, the concerns about of the TEA party and the deficit were of least importance to them.  The President rode in on hope and by the time the midterm election came around many were dumb founded on what they actually got. Many asking is he ready for prime time?  Countless political blunders giving the impression of a political novice.  However, just down the street public sentiment was even worse, elected officials in both parties were suffering from historically low job approval ratings.

So, the 2010 Mid-term elections have come and gone, what remains are the polling results of that election cycle. The Republican's won more seats historically than previous elections.  However, they failed to gain control of both Houses of congress,  just the House, as we all know by now. For the record,  President Clinton loss control of congress during his mid-term elections in 1996.  Historians now note that this would have been the beginning of the end for Clinton had he not started to do things differently then he did in his first two-years. Another important point, the visceral of hate for Clinton was far greater than it is for Obama. So, to see Clinton win a re-election bid at that particular time seemed unlikely. Had the Republicans not over-reached, shut down the government and as a result they took the blame, Clinton was re-elected. And that's politics! I only mention President Clinton's 1996 mid-term because it seems to match the closest with this last mid-term election cycle, except for one big fact, unemployment was at 5.9%.  

What does the research show?  

Despite the Republicans win of the House majority it  was not  a desire to return to Republican policies. Most polled rejected the narrative of the Republicans; that the American public rebelled against the liberal-mined over reaching of  Obama Administration. The Results showed that Americans were not aligning themselves with the Republicans , but rather were stating their disapproval for Washington.  Furthermore, since Democrats controlled most of the seats they would suffer more under that disappointment. Voters did support Democrats idea of tackling the deficit.  Fifty-one percent [51%] wanted to see an end to Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. The voters believed that ending those tax cuts would address the deficit concerns. Thirty-nine percent [39%] supported the Republican's plan to cut $100 million from domestic spending, raise retirement age, and cancel unspent stimulus aid. 

The overwhelming  concern was the economy and the attention given to the economy. Lack of an economic vision and direction from the President and Congress created more anxiety as voters headed to the polls in November.   The health-care battle that ensued lead to the partisan politics that upset voters even more. The true desire of voters was to end the obstruction and a call for more bipartisanship.


I think that when the voters were unable to figure out who was responsible for the country not moving in the right direction; lead to the old adage, "When in doubt, vote them out."