Now is the time to govern

Give President Obama credit for his narrow win at the polls Tuesday and gaining a second term.

His political strategy of building coalitions of women, minority voters, union workers and government employees to capture the battleground states worked masterfully. His attack ads that painted Mitt Romney as an arrogant, out-of-touch rich guy hit home. So now what? Mr. Obama has four more years in the Oval Office. Yet the stalemate in Washington remains unchanged, with the Democratic Party in control of the White House and the Senate and the Republican Party holding on to the House.

Meanwhile, here’s how Wall Street reacted Wednesday — with a thud. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 313 points, with stocks closing down 2.4 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Nasdaq recorded similar drops. The market is clearly unhappy with the frustrating prospect of more of the same. America can’t afford it either.

The president did not get a mandate Tuesday, despite his convincing victory in the Electoral College. The popular vote revealed that America is very much a divided country. About the only thing that most people can agree on is that the economy remains in deep trouble — and they expect our elected leaders to fix it.

As president, Mr. Obama is the Fixer-in-Chief. And the work begins immediately.

Job One for Mr. Obama and Congress is steering the nation away from the more than $600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, known as the fiscal cliff, that looms directly ahead. If lawmakers can’t reach a deal on the federal budget by the end of the year, these cuts and tax hikes will kick in. Such a body blow to the economy could trigger another recession, crippling businesses and putting more people out of work.

Neither party wants that to happen. That means both sides must cut a deal during the next 45 days.

Fortunately, there is some hope, at least on the Republican side.

House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that he is ready to negotiate a budget deal with the president that includes new tax revenues — something that GOP members in that chamber have opposed. But the president and Democratic-controlled Senate must also agree to cuts and changes to federal entitlement programs. Such spending reductions have been unpopular among many Democrats on Capitol Hill.

“If there is a mandate in (Tuesday’s) results, it is a mandate for us to find a way to work together on solutions to the challenges we face together as a nation,” Mr. Boehner said. He’s exactly right. Let’s hope Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is onboard as well.

During his acceptance speech Wednesday morning, Mr. Obama tried to downplay the great political divide. “We are not as divided as our politics suggests,” he said. “We’re not as cynical as the pundits believe.”

On the other hand, those words came from the same man who chose to tear down Mr. Romney’s candidacy during the past few months as a way of deflecting attention away from his own failed policies of the past four years. He’s better at running for office than governing. So some cynicism comes naturally.

Still, Mr. Obama should be given every opportunity to lead, and to lead responsibly. As Romney said in his brief but gracious concession speech, the nation must come together. “At a time like this we can’t risk partisan bickering and political posturing,” he said. “Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do critical work.” We couldn’t agree more. The mandate for the president is that he must govern during his second term. The mandate for Congress is to work with the president, focusing on the long-term prosperity and security of America, not the next election.