John's Blog

Oh crap, so it begins. Yesterday's press conference did little to allay my fears about W2. His fessing up to wanting to spend his political capital was certainly no surprise. His acted like he had a mandate in his first term, this is the confirmation that he views this election as a landslide win. Don't look for any conciliation with the forces of the blue side of the isle anytime soon. ("I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals".....so F' the rest of you). His arrogance and smirkness were even more difficult to take than usual, since this press conference amounted to gloating.

As one blogger points out:
1. This is the largest number of people who have ever voted AGAINST a president
2. 1% more than 50% is not a mandate but a bare, thin, majority.
3. At 80% approval after 9-11 and guaranteed a landslide election by prognosticators 2 years ago, only half the country supports him
4. A president who leads a divided country owes it to all Americans to lead fairly or have his party face the consequences beginning in 2006. No one else is here to blame.

His thin margin of victory isn't a mandate but this is an administration that seldom lets facts get in the way of their words and actions. His blustering is just more of the same kind of misdirection and distortion that we've seen from W in the past, in an effort to project the image of the invincible cowboy which plays so well in the red states.

As always, Paul Krugman makes the case more eloquently than I ever could.