President Obama and congressional Democrats are doubtless savoring their pretty thorough victory in their standoff with House Republicans over an extension of the payroll tax holiday. The congressional spit fights to come will soon take off some of the sheen.
But perhaps the real political win - the one with real electoral implications - is that more Americans now know that they actually have a payroll tax cut to lose, and the President emerged looking most like the one who wants to keep them from losing it.