Capitalize on North Korea: When Chinese Communists ousted their rival nationalists in 1949, the hue and cry of "Who lost China?" went up from Republicans on Capitol Hill who suggested that State Department ineptitude was to blame for Mao's rise to power. The question wasn't really a fair one in that the Chinese nationalists made more than their share of mistakes, but that didn't mean that the issue didn't resonate politically. With the Korean peninsula ever-more restive, Republicans may be positioned to get some mileage out of the situation if the situation continues to erode and U.S. handling of the crisis looks poor. The challenge for Republicans will be take shots at the White House for its handling of North Korea in a way that doesn't look crassly opportunistic or overtly bellicose. That might require more discipline in the Republican foreign-policy ranks than we have seen of late.
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