From: pdsmith.mitre.org (Pat Smith)
Subject: Re: The "mandate"
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 16:41:43 GMT

In article <1992Nov05.150222.16365@ux1.cts.eiu.edu>, cfnag@ux1.cts.eiu.edu (Norm Garrett) writes:
> 
> Although the media spent a lot of time at the end of the campaign
> defending themselves against charges of biased reporting, their true
> colors have shown through in the two days since the election.  The
> following are all terms that have been frequently used:  landslide,
> mandate, "the people have spoken", and "the country has shown they were
> behind him all along."
> 
> LANDSLIDE - Defined in the dictionary as "an overwhelming majority of
> votes in an election."  True with the electoral college, but certainly not
> the popular vote with 43%.  Only two presidents in American history have
> been elected with lower percentages of the popular vote.
> 
> MANDATE - This is authority given to someone to pursue certain policies.
> In the popular notion of the term, however, it usually indicates the 
> support of a clear majority.  It's simply not there this time.
> 
> "THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN" - Yes, they have.  57 out of 100 voted against
> Clinton's and his ideas.
> 
> "THE COUNTRY HAS SHOWN THEY WERE BEHIND HIM ALL ALONG" - When George
> Bush's approval rating was down in the lower 40% area, the media blasted
> him and basically called him dead meat.  Yet, when Clinton BEGINS his
> presidency with a 43% approval rating, third lowest in American history,
> "everyone" is all of a sudden "behind him."
> 
> The fact is that we don't vote for president at all.  If we did, the
> basic tenet of democracy of rule by the majority would not have allowed
> Clinton to be elected.  The fact is that the electoral college elects the
> president, not the people.  In fact, prior to the election of 1824 there
> were no nationwide popular votes at all.  It was left up to each state to
> select their own electors in any manner they saw fit.
> 
> In all, 43 presidential elections have been held where popular vote
> tallies were kept.  Clinton's election with 43% of the popular vote ranks
> 41st out of the 43.  The only presidents to be elected with 
> a lower percentage of the popular vote were John Quincy Adams in 1824 (the
> election went to the House of Representatives, since no candidate had a
> majority of electoral votes), and Abraham Lincoln in 1860 when he wasn't
> on the ballot in any southern states (not that they would have voted for
> him anyway ... several left the union before his inauguration).
> 

*****  This is quite symbolic - Clinton has a similar record in Arkansas - 
rakes lowest or nearly lowest in education, environmental action, wealth and 
so on.  Hope our country numbers in 4 years don't nosedive too.  What is
billy going to do with a $8 trillion deficit?

> If Clinton is smart, he will try to mold some kind of support from the 57%
> of the people who voted against him.  I doubt he will do that.  He will
> have a hard enough time delivering on all his promises to the various
> factions and special interest groups to whom he promised the world during
> the campaign.  I vividly remember the days of Jimmy Carter and double
> digit unemployment, inflation, and interest rates.  At least then we could
> write the high interest off on our income taxes.  Not so anymore.
> 
> 
> votes were
> majority 
> -- 
> *****************************************************************
> Norman Garrett                              cfnag@ux1.cts.eiu.edu 
> College of Business
> Eastern Illinois University
> 
> 
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