Regardless of the rivers of malarky flowing from the GOP propaganda mills, Bush and the Republicans do not have a mandate.
As a matter of fact, I think it is rare that any political party ever has a mandate because I believe the American people are inherently "conservative".
I put "conservative" in quotes, because I am not suggesting Americans are Republican wingnut conservative, but I am suggesting that Americans typically and generally like nice, smooth evolutionary changes, regardless of who is in power. So, even if a party has a "mandate," I believe this term is relative. Mandate does not equal revolution.
I think this is what the Republicans are walking into right now. The Republicans are ready to burn the country to the ground and rebuild it in their own image, but many Americans, including many real conservatives judging by polls on Social Security, Schiavo, etc. are saying "Whooooooooooa there, partner. Too much, too fast, you're making me anxious." Admittedly, this is not the only reason behind the troubles with Social Security and Schiavo, but I do believe it is a significant undercurrent.
And this is why I think a filibuster is the ruling party's best friend. What does the filibuster do? It saves the ruling party from itself.
So, this isn't me offering the wingnuts political advice, but it is a general, long-term comment on the importance of the filibuster. Some Republicans (notably McCain recently) have reminded the wingnuts that getting rid of the filibuster is an edge that cuts both ways, a reality that will reveal itself when the Democrats get back in power (and they will). But I think this is a good reminder to the Democrats as well.
By running against the elimination of the filibuster, we are in the short term keeping radical judges from the bench. But in the long term, I believe it will help us maintain a long and steady core of governing that can help us maintain a winning streak for a long time to come.
Why? Because the filibuster saves us from ourselves. When we win back the government, we should not assume that America is ready to burn the buildings to the ground. We should assume that we have been re-elected to trim the hedges and get the rats out of the basement. That's it.
The GOP filibuster, in the future, might just save us from ourselves.