Phar Kim Beng in his column claims George W Bush's 51 percent victory on Nov 21 made him the first US president to claim a majority since Bush Senior's 53 percent victory in 1988.

Phar seems to have left out Bill Clinton who won 54.7 percent of the popular vote in 1996. Bush did win convincingly against Kerry. But his popular vote is the lowest ever for a re-elected president since popular votes were first tallied in the 1820s.

And when we look at the electoral college margin , his is the smallest of any re-elected president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

Phar's mistake is to quote Associated Press without checking the facts - an embarrassing oversight for an academic of his stature.