THE PRESIDENTIAL DILEMMA - AT 5:46 A.M. ET:  It was some Memorial Day.  First, the North Koreans set off a large atomic device.  Then the Iranians rejected the latest Western proposal aimed at limiting their own nuclear program.  And then the president played golf. 

Well, as George  , portrayed by Ronald Reagan in "Knute Rockne, All American," said, the breaks are beatin' the boys.

The other team is piling on - in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Korea, in Iran, in Venezuela, and a host of other little places, like Somalia, where worry increases.  And all this is joined by the worst international financial crisis since the thirties.

The time for presidential rhetoric is past.  We may revere Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan for their speeches and fine phrases, but only because they were accompanied by action and results. 

The president must now make clear that North Korea will not get away with this test unscathed.  They test fired a large missile recently, the president rattled the cage, and nothing was done.  Those days are over...unless Barack Hussein Obama Jr. wants to descend into Jimmah Land.  He might look up Carter's approval ratings as the peanut farmer was hustled out of office. 

A new report out of Israel holds that Venezuela and Bolivia are selling uranium to Iran.  If the report is confirmed, what will the president do?

We've said here at Urgent Agenda that the second half of 2009 will be dramatic.  I think we (and many others) were right.  The Chinese have a curse:  "May you live in interesting times."  We will live in interesting times. 

The president, next week, will go off to Europe and Egypt.  His earlier trips were marked by an embarrassing, adolescent level of groveling and apology that was unbecoming an American president and a leader of the only nation that can keep the bad players on their side of the court.  We will watch every word Mr. Obama speaks to see if he's changing with the reality of events. 

We will then expect action.  United Nations resolutions, like the resolutions of student governments in high school, do not count.

May 26, 2009