WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton said there would be days — and nights — like this.
For the second time in four days, President Barack Obama has received the “3 a.m. phone call” that Clinton warned about. In their bitter presidential contest, Clinton suggested that her young rival was not ready for a national-security crisis.
His tests are coming early: first from the borderline rogue government in North Korea, then from stateless bandits preying on shipping lanes off the East African coast.
Obama’s responses to the early crises are being watched for signals of how he confronts enemies who operate outside the old rule book of international relations.
The White House was mostly silent on the pirates Wednesday, leaving the talking to military officials more closely involved. Obama was updated on the incident throughout the day.
As he was returning from his first European trip Wednesday — at about 3 a.m. — he got word that a U.S.-flagged cargo ship was in the hands of Somali pirates. As Air Force One was jetting west to Washington, Obama was still digesting the outcome of his travels, which included the first of the dreaded “3 a.m. calls.” That came when he was awakened early Sunday in Prague with news that North Korea had test- launched a missile.
Clinton, now Obama’s top diplomat, was traveling with him. She worked the phones, and Obama issued the expected words of condemnation.
As troubling as the North Korean launch was, there was an international framework in place to confront Kim Jong-Il and his nuclear ambitions.
Not so with the pirates operating out of lawless Somalia. The world’s navies have proved an impotent force against the attackers’ furtive quick-strike tactics.
