VP Biden, before he was VP Biden, had warned that tests would happen.  See “Is Biden’s ‘Test’ on the Near Horizon . . . http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=876 and “Testing Obama,”  http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=626.

Back in October, the prescient Joe said, “We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.  Remember, I said it standing here, if you don’t remember anything else I said:  Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

Pal Joey apparently was forthwith muzzled, squelched, told to shut up shortly thereafter and never again spoke of testing “the mettle [the character] of this guy,” “this guy” meaning the President Presumptive at the time, Senator Barack Hussein Obama.

Well, that test or tests, international and domestic, in political-speak have been “generated,” in real-speak have “hit the fan,” and we shall shortly see the depth of Obama’s “brilliance” and character. 

The domestic testing has been ongoing and is a carryover from the administration of Bush II and mainly, but not exclusively, has consisted of the banking, mortgage, economic mess.   Only time will tell whether history assigns Obama, and therefore America, a passing grade.

At this point, Wall Street has evidently decided on a  resounding “F” for the new president and for his wonder boy, tax-cheating Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner.  Their mindless profligacy in tossing around a trillion here, a trillion there of taxpayer dollars have been met with a clear vote of no confidence and a drop of thousands of points on the Dow. 

After being clued in by Bill Clinton, Obama’s suspended his very peculiar gloom and doom, crisis here, crisis there, approach to inspiring Americans in favor of the pep-talky, “Hey, we can do it, folks!”  But the damage had already been done.

Main Streeters and Wall Streeters seem to be thinking, Will the real president please stand up and do something constructive?  Both should be cautioned not to expect much in that regard since Obama has admitted that he regards the DJIA as nothing more than a “tracking poll” and neither he nor Michelle Obama own any stocks according to their tax returns.  So, who cares?

Obama’s other testing fields are overseas, in foreign nations and in international waters and so far he seems to have adopted a very diplomatic, hands-off, do nothing, wait and see approach. 

North Korea’s Kim Jong-il,    maniacal loose-cannon extraordinaire, thrives on war and rumors of war and gets his jollies by launching missiles and threats, the latest being to shoot down civilian airliners near its airspace and warning of all-out war if we dare to shoot down its satellite:  http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=44687.

The latest news out of Pyongyang is that the paranoid Kim Jong-il has cut its military hotline with South Korea and is in process of mobilizing his million man army.  The reason?  Fear of invasion by the United States and South Korea:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d5d6fd4a-0c60-11de-b87d-0000779fd2ac.html.

It’s as realistic to expect a U.S. invasion of North Korea as it is to expect us to invade Tibet, but realism never enters the equation when it comes to Kim’s thinking.

Iran’s equally unstable nutcase, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  

hurls similar threats, threatens missile and nuclear strikes–when Iran’s nuke facilities are up and running– and now demands the United States apologize for 60 years of wrongs against Iran:  http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/a/mahmoud_ahmadinejad/index.html

Mahmoud’s very selective memory must have “dis-remembered” when his Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the illegal storming and capture of our Tehran embassy in 1979.  I have to assume that he does not consider imprisoning 52 Americans for 444 days as something worthy of an Iranian apology.

There is, however, another explanation, namely that Mahmoud does recall President Jimmy Carter’s, America’s, feckless response to that grave offense and he seriously does expect an apology from President Obama.

He may get it if Obama fails this test.

Iran and North Korea are comparative pipsqueaks on the world stage and their incessant testing could be ended within weeks, or days, if Obama has the nerve to advise both nations that, starting with their leaders, they will be reduced to molten puddles should they dare any funny business.

Fat chance, but hope springs eternal.

More ominous tests, one clearly and intentionally “generated” by a wannabe superpower, the other the result of an inept government allowing drug criminals to go berserk on their own soil, are on Obama’s horizon.

The inept government is that of Mexico’s Felipe Calderon and his ineptitude is a test for Obama only because of Mexico’s 2000 mile border with the United States and the four states immediately adjacent to Mexico and the fact that its criminal element now is overflowing into those states, and further north.