by Jeffrey Jason Hill

Created on: April 25, 2009

Call it an Easter Sunday gift. If his soaring approval ratings weren't enough, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from kidnapping pirates made President Obama look like a genius. It also made Vice President Biden's words during the campaign look curiously prophetic; the first dramatic test of Obama's mettle came sooner than anyone expected.

It also unfolded in ways no one but a Hollywood screenwriter could have envisioned. You can be certain the world's various leaders were watching. The untested president is now tested, and he got a passing grade. It remains to be seen whether the dictators and thugs of the world will view this as a deterrent or an invitation to see what else he can do.

Obama was luckier than President Bush in his first international test. He was luckier in that it was only three days, and involved only one American, not 24 crew members of a U.S. spy plane in an 11-day standoff with the world's only other superpower. Like Obama's, President Bush's test also came during his first 100 days in office.

Obama was lucky, too, in that he, unlike President Bush, could claim a complete and absolute triumph, not a carefully-worded compromise designed to save face for both governments. While Bush ended his first international challenge with a letter from Washington that it was "very sorry" for the spy plane's unauthorized landing at a Chinese military air base, Obama celebrated Easter Sunday to the cheers of a nation happy that its Navy SEALs could still kick butt.

After the Bush-China incident, there were no sharpshooters or profiles in courage. In both cases, there could easily have been days of national mourning had things turned out for the worse. In Obama's case, it only took the careless adventurism of pirates - and the skill of US Navy Seal snipers with night vision goggles - to save the day.

Obama's handling of the affair involved only two orders, according to National Security Adviser James Jones, a retired Marine Corps four-star general. "I can tell you from a White House and presidential standpoint, there was no conflict, no gnashing of teeth, or excessive influence in trying to manage this thing," said Jones.

Capt. Richard Phillips was taken captive from the merchant ship Maersk Alabama on April 8. It took 2 days for the Pentagon to dispatch its warship the USS Bainbridge to arrive on the scene, and that is where Obama comes in. His first order was to allow a few Navy SEALs from a base in Africa to land on the Bainbridge. The commandos were deployed by a transport aircraft near the warship, where they parachuted into the waters near it.

Also, the president approved a second request for a stronger, better-equipped SEAL team to go from the U.S. to the scene immediately. The president was given two requests, and he approved them both. The rest, as they say, is history.

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