Sunday Roundup

This week, the supposedly lame duck Congress and shellac-shocked president came together and produced a flurry of good legislation. The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is another step on our path towards a more perfect union. The START Treaty should have been a no-brainer (is there anyone outside of Tehran or Pyongyang in favor of more nukes?) but is nonetheless a solid national security success. And the passage of a diminished bill covering the health costs of 9/11 first responders is, literally, the least we could do for them. So the president has earned his vacation. But when he gets back from Hawaii, he needs to make sure that he puts job creation and the plight of the nearly 27 million Americans out of work or underemployed front and center, and doesn't get caught up in the political and financial establishment's focus on the deficit. Let's not rearrange the furniture while the economic house goes up in flames.