David Axelrod thinks Obama has a mandate to raise taxes...

How does a 2% victory give anyone a mandate for anything? After the November 6th election, voters have instituted at least 2 years of the status quo.  Obama will occupy the White House. Harry Reid and democrats will control the Senate. John Boehner and Republicans will control the House. Voters selected the gridlock button November 6th. I say we give it to them.

Via National Journal:

President Obama has a mandate to raise taxes on wealthy Americans, senior campaign adviser David Axelrod said on Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation.

Obama has threatened to veto any bill that that does not allow tax rates to rise on households that earn more than $250,000 a year. Asked if Obama has won a mandate with his election victory, despite winning by a small percentage, Axelrod did not answer directly, but said Obama had won a mandate on taxes.

“On this particular issue, it wasn’t close,” Axlerod said, citing exit polling that show about 60 percent of voters agreed with Obama’s position on taxes.

“It is obvious that we can’t resolve the nation’s problems simply by cutting [spending],” Axelrod said. “Where is that revenue gonna come from? President Obama believes it is more equable for it to come from the wealthiest Americans, and most Americans agree with that.”

 Exit polls found 63% oppose raising taxes.

In the fierce headline debate over the so-called fiscal cliff, our newly reelected president argues that “a majority of Americans agree with [his] approach.” That approach, according to the president, is “to combine spending cuts with revenue — and that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes.”

Well, that’s not exactly what the exit polls said.

To the question “Should taxes be raised to help cut the budget deficit?” only 33% answered “yes” while 63% responded “no.” Isn’t that interesting? Nobody’s talking about this exit-poll nugget.