Mandate?

Directly after the election, President Obama was well on his way to an electoral mandate but was not there yet. The opposition still had the ability to filibuster because the democrats were down a few seats in the senate. 60 seats are required for a party in order to be filibuster-proof and right the democrats hold 56. The term mandate has often been used loosely and in past elections mandates have been “called” for less.

The answer to the question as of the present, is technically no. Though I think in practice that “no” is not a strong one. As of February 2009, there are 57 democrats holding seats in the senate. This number includes two politicians who had not yet sworn in, Al Franken and Roland Burris. Burris is now an official count, and Franken is still a part of the chaos Minnesota has created. Then there are the two senators, Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders, who are officially listed as Independent, but caucus with the Democrats. This gives a shaky total of 59. Still not the 60 seats needed.

All of the technical details aside, do I think President Obama has the authority to do the things he wants to do? Absolutely. While the numbers show a chance for opposition, this assumes that the opposition will indeed oppose everything he wants. This is far from likely. If the political world was calling president Bush’s presidency a mandate at 51, in faith, Barack Obama has one as well.