Having concluded that the United States needs an austerity program to cure its economic ills (Extra!, 1/10), and having decided in advance that the 2010 midterms were a mandate for downsizing the federal government (Extra!, 12/10), the leading outlets of the corporate media fixed on the deficit commission created by Barack Obama as a test of how serious the Democrats were about doing what needed to be done. The initial verdict: They’re failing the test. Before the midterms, under the headline “Deficit Divisions Likely to Grow After Election,” New York Times reporter Jackie Calmes (10/26/10) asserted that dealing with the [...]