There’s a difference between saying you have a mandate and acting like you have one. In his first news conference since his re-election, President Obama took on bullies, scrooges, and unruly reporters. He batted away questions over the scandal that brought down Gen. David Petraeus, stood up for his U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice against attacks from Republican senators, and warned that if House Republicans didn’t act on the question of tax cuts, the holidays would be ruined. In the hour-long news conference, Obama took a measured tone, but he clearly feels like he has the upper hand. “The American people understood what they were getting when they gave me this incredible privilege of being in office for another four years,” he said.