don’t all cheer at once

From the L.A. Times, etiquette points on how to behave in the face of a spell of no bad news for the United States:

All of a sudden, we’re getting foreign affairs news that seems, well, good. The Israelis and Palestinians are restarting the long-stalled peace process. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has stepped down as army chief of staff and promises henceforth to serve only as a civilian leader. And violence in Iraq appears genuinely to be down.

After years of unremittingly bad news, no one seems quite sure what to do with good news. Should we cheer? Take back all those mean things we’ve said about George W. Bush? Or check to see if we still have our wallets, because it’s probably some sort of trick?

When in doubt, go negative. That’s what everyone else is doing!