We still have much more work to do at the Pentagon, but at the end of the day no one at the Pentagon should have a de facto veto over getting rid of DADT or slowing repeal down.
Even so, lawmakers in most countries have been slow to repeal the laws on driving tests and licences, and in most places the rules still call for at least one sober "driver" sitting in a front seat.
Reitman and others, meanwhile, are starting a new battle: convincing those in the LGBT community who kept Manning at arms' length out of the perception that she might slow down the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" to support her now, and winning over the press.
Mr. Gates, who until Monday had urged Congress to take a slow, methodical march toward repeal, had no comment on the letters.
A fine toast for your New Year's Eve: to repeals, jobs, slow and steady pressure, and some hope, maybe, in the new year.
Representatives Allyson Y. Schwartz, Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Joe Heck, Republican of Nevada, have put forward one good proposed reform, which would tie an S.G.R. repeal to a slow reduction in fee-for-service payments to those physicians who do not switch to bundled payments and other payment models.
Obamacare will almost certainly die a slow death, since immediate total repeal without any replacement will leave too many millions angry.
If the Republican bill does fail, the shadow of fewer jobs and slower growth looming over the repeal bill will surely be a factor, especially for Republican Senators from expansion states.
"There will certainly be pressure to get it done in 2011," one defense official said, indicating that repeal will be a relatively slow but not years-long process.
But the slow phase-in of the estate tax repeal would not quickly inject much spending money into the economy to turn it around.
