Well, it ain't over til its over, and there's still a lot of things that can go wrong--very wrong. And even under the best of circumstances, not everything that we'd like to happen is going to happen. I also share many of the constitutional reservations, and I'm aware of the contradictions between this and analogous places, and inconsistencies with this and similar situations. But at least we didn't have to watch Khadaffi rounding up people and butchering them on CNN, instead they're waving the Stars and Stripes and chanting "Thank You America". This really matters, because we really had noting at stake here, but we would have looked like wimps if we had done nothing. At least, that's what Newt was saying BEFORE the shooting started.

But as it has always been, no body ever complains about a war you win, especially if it is fast, decisive and (at least for us) relatively bloodless. But having said all that and shamelessly hedged my bets, I am impressed by Obama's performance. To be honest, I didn't know he had it in him.

He did everything he said he was going to do, and he did it exactly how he said he was going to do it. There were no lame excuses or cooked books. A measured, controlled , almost surgical response. He did it while he was dancing the Samba in Rio and without breaking a sweat, only taking modest credit for "assisting the international community". And he put it together and pulled it off seamlessly in just a few days. It was Thatcher at the Falklands, or a fast-forward Elder Bush in Kuwait, all over again. And unless he has a run of bad luck, right now it looks like Barry hit this one out of the park.

We may never get a chance like this again. A lot of things had to come together for this to happen; grudging( if rather treacherous) Arab support, Limeys and Frogs calling in their markers (they need this oil more than we do)a convenient enemy hugging an inland sea studded with our bases, Security Council abstentions instead of vetoes, and a really stupid dictator hated by both his neighbors and his people. Obama took a big risk, but he did it at the optimum time and place.

Of course, what happens next is what determines the final score. But no matter what, the world, particularly the Arab world, has learned a sobering lesson: the clumsy, stumbling giant can still move fast and deadly when he really has to. Next time we talk, they'll listen.

And on a purely personal note, I love watching ordnance raining down on surplus Russian armor.