While Republican voters have remained universally supportive of their President, Democrats and Independents are returning to a more naturally critical stance.

Mandates are not objective realities but subjective interpretations of elections sold successfully by the winning candidate or party.

All of this suggests that while citizens became more comfortable with President Bush after September 11 and thought him to have the requisite leadership skills, they continue to harbor doubts about his priorities, loyalties, interests, and policies.

First, his job approval ratings have been trending down for many months, a trend that has accelerated in recent weeks as the war on terrorism has been supplanted in the public's mind by corporate scandals, stock market declines, and a growing sense of economic insecurity.

In 2010, I ran for Congress in a Democratic primary against someone who had been there for 18 years. 'The Daily News' endorsed me. I was in 'The New York Times' above the fold. CNBC called this one of the hottest races in the country. On election day, votes for me never went past 19%. I lost.

One of the remarkable things about Donald Trump is that he didn't just beat the Progressive establishment - he also beat the Conservative establishment. Two political tribes that dominated Washington for half a century were defeated in the space of one election campaign.

We are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. We are at the precipice of great transformation within our culture and government.

But in the end our government usually - not unfailingly - is responsive to the people; and usually - not always - will try to do what is right.