What’s gone right in Washington

• The last U.S. Marines are leaving Iraq.
• Credit card companies can no longer charge interest on fees, and
  can’t retroactively raise your interest rate on existing balances.
• We know who visits the White House, and who they’re affiliated with.
• We responded, imperfectly but with heart and sincere effort, to the
  disaster in Haiti. Just as we wish we had after Katrina. Leadership
  matters most in emergencies.
• Our current president readily admits when he’s made mistakes,
  respects the validity of arguments that he disagrees with, and has
  members of the opposing party in his Cabinet.
• The Department of Homeland Security now allocates its security
  spending according to threats, not by spending the same amount of money
  on Montana as it does on New York.
• My 401(k) is up 30 percent since the current president took office.

I’ve been talking to a lot of rank-and-file people, and here’s a little I’d add:

• This administration is telling us where the money went, instead of hiding that.
• They’ve encouraged government workers to fix they way it works, instead of telling workers that what they do doesn’t matter.
• They’re trying to root out corruption, rather than the opposite.
• Back pay for stop-lossed veterans; serious about medical and
  educational benefits, which is to say they actually support the troops,
  rather than the opposite.

That works for me, as a libertarian pragmatist.