The Mandate Vs. Taking It Slow

I find it interesting that the media and some Republicans decided to say that President Bush was reelected under a mandate when he was reelected in 2004 with only a 1% margin of victory, which turned out to lowest of any reelected president. However, now when the Democrats gained a major victory by retaking control of both houses of Congress while not losing any seats those some Republicans and the media say the Democrats should tread lightly and not simply the message the people sent them concerning Iraq.

Recently, John McCain was one of the Republicans who warned the Democrats to not simplify the message they were sent by interpreting it as the people saying they want the troops taken from Iraq at all costs. I do wonder how McCain can say this when all the polls show a majority of people either want all or some of the troops to come home. In addition, it seems that many family members of military personnel want all the soldiers to come home. It seems like many military families are getting upset with their family members being sent to war zones four and five times. Finally, it was reported that when Bush visited soldiers yesterday he was given a cool welcome at best. That should be enough to show that the Democrats would not be overstepping their bounds if they did fight to remove troops from Iraq. It seems that both the American people and the American military have grown tired of the Iraq War.