San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial

Still a 50-50 nation / Massachusetts Senate upset shows disdain for extremes

Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

In November 2008, after eight years under a Republican president widely seen as a failure and with the U.S. economy in chaos, a Democratic presidential candidate who had spent months reassuring independent voters he was squarely in the American political mainstream won the White House. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s 53 percent to 46 percent victory over Arizona Sen. John McCain was no landslide. Given the results in past elections with similar circumstances, Obama’s margin was unimpressive.

Nevertheless, Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress insisted they had a mandate for vast new government spending and expanded control of the economy. In February 2009, a $787 billion “economic stimulusâ€