Though it’s hardly a new “Era of Good Feelings” in Washington, the last minute deal on the 2011 budget is an obvious step in the right direction.

Speaker John Boehner earned new respect, negotiating skillfully in a difficult situation. He’d been squeezed between those who wanted a government shutdown as a demonstration of GOP commitment to shrinking government and those, like me, who warned that the President would wield a shutdown as a potent political weapon and that Republicans would get fewer concessions, not more, once government inevitably re-started. With this last minute deal, Boehner satisfied both sides: avoiding a shutdown, while forcing cuts that will save taxpayers some $500 billion over the next ten years. Moreover, his successful negotiating enhanced his political stature and strengthened his hand for the far more significant budget battles just weeks away.