What Mattered This Week?

Again, quite a lot of stuff happened.  I'll be interested in whether everyone thinks that the final formulation of the government in Iraq matters.  I'm inclined to think not, at least for the United States, but I'm really not sure.

As for the end of the lame duck session, the more I think about it the more it seems like an astonishing roll of the dice by Barack Obama and the Democrats: use the remaining time to get through the stuff that would have no chance at all in the next Congress, while punting on appropriations, taxes, and the debt ceiling in the hope that Democrats can either win or at least cut reasonable deals on those items next year.  I can see the logic in it, I guess.   The idea is that there's just no way that a GOP Congress was going to pass food safety or DADT repeal, but they have to pass appropriations bills (and a tax bill at some point during the 112th, and debt ceiling when needed), and that gives Democrats leverage they wouldn't have on, say, child nutrition.  But it sure leaves a whole lot of Democratic priorities vulnerable into the new year. 

Now, I may be wrong about this; it may be that the votes just weren't there in the Senate, at least the post-election Senate.  I suspect, however, that it was more a question of how to use the remaining limited time, and that the Democrats made a choice, basically, to go for legislating over appropriating. 

Anyway, what I really want to know is: what do you think mattered this week?