McCain, Obama, Iran

David Brooks tries to spot the difference between the way the two candidates would tackle the problem. It's hard. And the slow management of a policy that knows no final resolution is indeed a pragmatic enterprise. But I wonder if it will be that predictable. Will the apparent waning of Sunni Jihadism embolden or quiet the Shia revolutionaries in Tehran? Is there someone in that regime we do not appreciate yet who will alter Persia's future? Is a nuclear Iran containable the way every other nuclear state has proven to be? Could a stabler, less autocratic, more devolved Iraq tilt the balance within Iran? These are all unknowables.

What we have to try to figure out - and it's not a judgment susceptible to advance knowledge - is how either man's character would respond to a sudden crisis. The policy options remain alike. But character counts.