Stability seems to be the watchword in the aftermath of Kim Jong-il’s death. Leaders in the United States, across Asia, and even in Europe have been calling for stability on the Korean peninsula. But as nice as stability might be, it is not difficult to imagine things getting very messy very quickly in Northeast Asia. Forthwith, the top five ways things could go wrong in the Hermit Kingdom.

Sometime between now and the first caucuses and primaries some of the Republican candidates may present a more serious fiscal and economic platform than any of them has so far. In the meantime it's tempting to seek quick votes by promising the impossible and pledging to do things no president ever would.

Obama is acting on the assumptions that Americans will accept a permanently enlarged and more expensive government and that the details don't much matter. The 2010 elections refuted the first assumption. Now we'll see about the second.

Netanyahu supporters are a decisive majority of the American public, stretching far beyond the confines of one faith, they can reshape the domestic American debate on Israel and the region. This is critical, since, thanks to Obama, U.S.-Israeli relations are more politically strained than ever before, a public division inevitably providing our adversaries with dangerous opportunities for trouble-making.

Fiscal discipline is extraordinarily important not just for New Jersey but for America.