Here’s a pleasant Christmas thought. Why does Charles Krauthammer love nuclear weapons so much?

Obama’s difficulty in overcoming the missile defense objection will serve to temper the rest of his nuclear agenda, including U.S. entry into the test-ban treaty, and place Obama’s ultimate goal of total nuclear disarmament blessedly out of reach. Conservatives can thus take solace that their vigorous opposition to START is likely to prevent further disarmament mischief down the road. But what they cannot deny is the political boost the treaty’s ratification gives Obama today, a mere seven weeks after his Election Day debacle.

The one thing that Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama unquestionable agree about is that nuclear weapons are an abomination that imperil mankind, and that we ought to move thoughtfully and deliberatively towards a world in which our nuclear weapons are sitting in moth balls. If Krauthammer is right that “the most menacing threat of the coming century [will be] nuclear hyper-proliferation,” then we ought to get serious about disarmament and non-proliferation efforts. Missile defense is by far the less safe choice. Once you get to the point that a nuclear missile is launched, we’re pretty much screwed whether it gets shot down or not.