MC built-in editor: use F3 to select text, than F5/F6 to copy/move. Or F1 to get help.
System date/time is set automatically during startup from the network using ntp server. Run getTime.sh to set it manually. A BusyBox ntpd applet is part of the base, you can run it as a daemon. The full ntpd package is also available in the repo.
BTW, did you try Idle, the official Python editor, which is part of the package?