Obama's New StartRepublicans no longer have the wind at their backs. Riding the lamest of ducks, President Obama just won the Triple Crown. He fulfilled (1) his most important economic priority, passage of Stimulus II, a.k.a. the tax-cut deal (the perfect pre-reelection fiscal sugar high — the piper gets paid in 2013 and beyond); (2) his most important social-policy objective, repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tellâ€; and (3) his most cherished (achievable) foreign-policy goal, ratification of the New START treaty with Russia. Politically, these are all synergistic. The bipartisan nature of the tax deal instantly repositioned Obama back to the...