Obama's First Test

"If it is indeed confirmed that Americans and Britons were targeted and that the attacks were inspired by al-Qaida's radical ideology, then the difficult transition phase in Washington has become even more complicated," Gregor Peter Schmitz says in Der Spiegel about Wednesday's terror attacks in Mumbai.

It is past daybreak now in Mumbai — it's getting close to 8 a.m. Friday in that part of the world. CNN is reporting that fighting has broken out "between government soldiers in a helicopter and gunmen holed up inside a Jewish center."

Back in the United States, it is Thanksgiving evening — and it seems to be a fairly typical one, even in a decidedly down economy.

Football fans are watching games on ESPN and/or the NFL Network.

Early-bird Christmas shoppers are catching a few winks before heading out to the stores at 4 a.m. (Honestly, those shoppers get up and about earlier than I had to when I was a little boy and I was roused from a sound sleep in a warm bed to go fishing with my father and grandfather.)

I don't think the guests in those Mumbai hotels have been getting too much shut-eye in the last 36 hours.

Nevertheless ...

To continue with Schmitz's observation — "The crisis could be Obama's first big foreign policy test," he writes. "The world is going to dissect his response."

Most Americans know about all the jobs that have been "out-sourced" to India in recent years.

But, unless those Americans work in the financial services sector, they may not have been aware — until Wednesday's attacks — of the role Mumbai plays in the financial community.

It is one of the top 10 centers of commerce in the world. It may be more readily recognized by Westerners when referred to by its old name — Bombay.

Although the casualties are not as great as the ones suffered on Sept. 11, 2001, the attacks in Mumbai are being referred to, as The Telegraph of Calcutta reports, as "India’s 9/11 for their massive scale and ruthless efficiency."

And the impact on the financial community, at a time of global financial distress, may be more acute than it was seven years ago.

My advice to Obama would be — Tread lightly.