Jan Freeman, the Boston Globe’s Word columnist, concludes her column on the mandate debate today with this strangely relativist conclusion:

Arguments, however, can’t settle the question: The proof of a mandate is in the governing. If the 2004 election produced one, we’ll see the evidence soon enough.

By this standard of legislative success, President Bush won a mandate when he lost the popular vote in 2000, which doesn’t make much sense at all. It’s certainly true that mandates are largely a social construction. But there’s a difference between admitting this fact and endorsing a “mandate” claim just because everyone else has.