One of the last hold-outs in the slowly gathering good news story of the economic recovery has finally checked in: the National Federal of Independent Businesses on Tuesday reports that its members are feeling their most optimistic since December 2007. That’s important because small business generally has felt left out of the government-driven recovery and remained pessmistic all through 2009 and 2010. They’re the ones who will do much of the hiring that will bring unemployment down, but only once they feel the economy is on the right track. Although NFIB membership is still feeling pessimistic, overall, it’s less than it has been and the trend is upward.