Foreign Policy 'Tests' & Tired New Presidents

VP Joe "Did I Just Say That?" Biden predicted his boss would be tested in his first six months as president.

Headlines the past 24 hours indicate that he may for once have said something correctly.

The Red Chinese navy is getting a little too feisty.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.

Defense officials in the Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of "increasingly aggressive" acts by Chinese ships in the region. The incident took place in international waters in the South China Sea, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island. [SNIP]

The USNS Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Despite the force of the water, Chinese crew members stripped to their underwear and continued closing within 25 feet, the Defense Department said.

Stripped to their underwear?

This wasn't an isolated incident. There have been several others in recent days, and it isn't unprecedented. Thanks to 9/11 most people have forgotten that the Chinese forced down an American aircraft in April 2001 to test President Bush 43 early in his first term.

But you also have North Korea rattling its sabre by declaring that anyone who messes with its "satellite" launch will trigger a war. No one actually believes the Norks have satellite capability, they're just testing a long range missile.

What happens when the rhetoric turns into an incident? An anonymous source at the White House told a British reporter over the weekend that President Obama and his team are "overwhelmed" by the amount of work that must be done each day and the information that comes along with it.

Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy".

If this is even close to reality, that's the scariest thing I've heard since January 20. News like this is but an encouragement for the "testing" that Biden predicted.