Opinion

Obama’s second term

Sincere congratulations to President Obama, who won re-election yesterday after a hard-fought campaign that produced results likely to change virtually nothing.

Indeed, 18-plus months of political trench warfare, fueled by billions in campaign spending, produced a virtual carbon-copy affirmation of the status quo.

The president is re-elected; the Senate remained Democratic, and the House stayed solidly Republican.

So while the president justifiably can savor the moment, in no way did he win anything approaching a mandate.

Mitt Romney’s disappointment in having come so close must be keen, but he can take pride in an honorable race well run — but one that fell tantalizingly short.

Clearly his message resonated with many voters — which underscores the notion that principled opposition should not automatically be taken as obstructionism.

Because, again, America remains a deeply divided nation.

So this victory, no matter how soul-satisfying for the president and his supporters, cannot fairly be taken as a mandate for Obama and his policies.

In that spirit, he would do well to avoid the imperious airs that all too often marked his first administration.

Persuasion must be the administration’s watch word, cooperation and conciliation its goals.

There are too many critical issues that will be coming to the fore in the immediate future — issues like the massive national debt, passing a budget and both entitlement and spending reform.

Those are issues that will require bipartisanship and cooperation — a willingness on both sides to reach across the aisle.

Certainly that means reciprocity from Congress — from both houses.

But it, of necessity, must start in the Oval Office.

Again, the president should see the election results as a narrow vote of confidence, but not in any way as an instruction to rush headlong into the same roadblocks — bigger and more and more expansive government — that he constructed for the past four years.

The American people have spoken, and they’ve chosen four more years of Barack Obama.

It’s not a mandate.

It’s a second chance.