The Opacity of Hope - WSJ.com

"As a matter of political character, many of these questions hang on Mr. Obama's toughness. We know he is intelligent and clever. What we don't know is if he can make a difficult decision in the national interest that is unpopular, and then endure the consequences. Reagan showed his steel by staring down the Patco strike at home and Soviet scare-tactics against missile deployments abroad. Whatever his mistakes in Iraq, George W. Bush's 'surge' was a lonely call that has proven to be right. As far as we know, Mr. Obama has had to make no such decision in his short public life."