Obama's Opportunity

This is the 3 a.m. phone call. Will President Obama rise to the occasion?

He could, and he should. His initial diagnosis two years ago of the Middle East proved wrong. His administration’s initial response to the crisis in Egypt has been halting. His normal supporters are befuddled. The soft “realists” who tend to populate his administration’s foreign policy councils, who failed realistically to see what was coming, are wishing the whole thing would somehow go away. His secretary of State is leading aid missions to Haiti.