It's all about perception

This post is not even remotely timely, but I’ve been meaning to write it for a while. It’s really just an observation on how different cultures view similar things. As we all know, in November 2004, Bush won re-election with approx. 51% of the vote, and his opponent got approx. 49%. By most standards, this would called a pretty close race, based just on the popular vote. However, the Bush Administration claimed a mandate and all that. The people have spoken and blah blah blah. While we were in London, they had a general election. Tony Blair retained his seat and gained a third term as Prime Minister, because his party (Labour) won a 66% majority in the election. But since this was the smallest majority of his three elections, it was seen very negatively. The headlines were all along the lines of “Blair Stomped!”, which would make you think that he had lost. I think that 66% is a pretty big majority. The other 34% was split between two other parties. The Tories made some gains, but didn’t come anywhere near retaking a majority. Yet, Blair’s victory is somehow seen as a failure. Blair even indicated that there are problems to be addressed and that his party needs to do better. I found this different in perception to be very interesting, especially when I read that the 66% majority was higher than former Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had ever won. Are the British a glass-is-half-empty people, and are we a glass-is-half-full people?