Bush must stick to his mandate

To the editor:

Now that President Bush has won re-election, the Democrats are saying he must move to the center of the political spectrum. Of course, the two parties never have and never will agree upon where the center of the political spectrum really lies. The Democrats believe that it is somewhere near the center of the left.

If we take a good look at the voting patterns in the United States, we will see that there are very few counties that voted for Kerry. The map of the United States is almost solid red. This would mean that if we were a pure democracy, instead of a representative republic, the Democratic Party's issues would probably be no more than a footnote.

Bush and the Republican leadership must try their best to work with the Democrats, but not at all cost as happened several times during his first term. They must not forsake the centrist agenda that has been dictated by the mandate he has just received. And he did receive a mandate.

The three most important issues facing Bush should be the war on terrorism, the appointment of judges and a complete revamping the income-tax system, and he should start immediately.

GENE NELSON ISOM, Olive Branch, Ill.