Forgive me here, but the last time I checked a "mandate" in an election meant to "Give (someone) authority to act in a certain way" It would seem that while we as a nation have a House that has a majority that is in the hands of one party and a Senate in the hands of another and the White House won in what you might call an electorial blowout, but a popular vote spilt, that would hardly qualify as a mandate. What it does indicate in my humble opinion is a nation that is fed up with both sides of a do nothing Govt. that not only spends to much but does not keep the nations finanacial house in order. It's also my humble opinion this is not a mandate to take meat cleaver to every Govt. program simply because someone might be opposed to it, however what it does mean is that Govt. should spend it's money in a wise manner and also recognize that revenue is required to run the Govt.