The voters hand _____ a historic victory but send a message, not a mandate: work with the _____
(TIME, November 6, ____) -- A nation born of a distrust of kings won't easily forgive a President who behaves too much like one. And so every four years, the people give a test: first we hand someone the most powerful job in the world. Then we demand that he not be too proud of himself for having it, too desperate to keep it or too sure that he alone knows what to do with it. And then we sit back and watch, until it's time to decide whether to re-elect him.
In four years _____ learned that it is not enough to be smart or charming or plump with vision. His triumph on Tuesday night, for all the records it broke, was a victory for studied modesty; for a willingness to swallow his pride to preserve his power, embrace his enemies to steal their ideas and march into history as the first two-term _____ since _____, not with great leaps forward but one baby step at a time.
The President in question is Bill Clinton, and the year was 1996. Clinton defeated Dole by 8 percent - "NOT A MANDATE". The year is now 2004. Bush's margin of victory is less than 3 percent. I'm curious to read what TIME will write next week. We already know what Bush thinks. How does less than half of a non-mandate equal a mandate? Easily, when you hold a degree in fuzzy math.
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