President Barack Obama will get four more years to try to accomplish more of the work he set out to do when he first sought the presidency in 2008.

But as with the past two years, he doesn’t face an easy road, and the popular vote tallied after the polls closed Tuesday evening produced no mandate.

Meanwhile, many voters nationwide are breathing a collective sigh of relief that the ugly campaign punctuated by distortions, half-truths and outright lies has ended.

With Obama’s win, it’s clear that the country is more comfortable with maintaining the status quo represented by Obama’s agenda over the unknowns surrounding his challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, some of whose promises about closing the budget deficit and reducing the national debt didn’t seem to add up.

The biggest hope to emerge from the election is that the unbending partisanship of the past two years, with Republicans turning thumbs down to virtually every Obama initiative, will be softened by the voters’ decision to give Obama another term.

Even with Republicans’ publicly voiced top agenda item being the defeat of Obama, the fact that the president will remain in the White House should force a rethinking within the GOP on how to better present the party in 2016. It would be smart to change the party’s mind-set and image from one of obstruction to one of cooperation, leadership and compromise.

The current Congress earned the label of a “do-nothing Congress” for good reason. The country cannot afford four more years of that, considering the tough issues — domestic and foreign — looming ahead. But divided government can work, and that will be one of the challenges during the next four years.

Pennsylvania’s presidential election verdict was rendered early on, not only landing in the Obama column but also giving incumbent Democratic Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. a big win over his Republican challenger, Tom Smith, who painted Casey as a killer of the coal industry and a do-nothing senator.

Pennsylvania also gave the nod to Democrat Kathleen Kane for attorney general. She’s the first woman and first Democrat elected to the position since it became an elective office in 1980.

On the Butler County front, where 73 percent of the voters went to the polls, Republican Mike Kelly of Butler won a second term in Congress representing Pennsylvania’s 3rd District. His step upward on the seniority ladder will enhance his voice.

In referendums decided by voters in this county, Center Township residents cast their ballots in favor of returning to a three-member board of supervisors from its current five members. Meanwhile, voters in the Slippery Rock School District rejected a proposal calling for the district to take on $38.5 million in debt and increase property taxes to pay for the renovations of two schools.

In his second term, Obama’s task will be to try to forge a better working relationship with Republicans, though Republicans still hold a commanding majority in the House; make headway on reducing the budget deficit and national debt and deal with the fiscal crisis dubbed the “fiscal cliff.” The president also should be open to changing and improving the Affordable Care Act; bring down the unemployment rate; tackle the immigration issue in a serious way; while continuing to deal with the turmoil in the Middle East and the unfinished business regarding the war in Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing threat of terrorism.

The country remains equally and often bitterly divided. But Americans would do themselves a favor by sending a message to Washington for an end to gridlock and obstructionism.

Tuesday didn’t provide a mandate for Obama, but he won nonetheless. Now, Americans will wait to see how he and Republicans in Congress react.