First of all: remember those early declarations from the left about how there's nothing to worry about because the rocket was a dud? The ones that the NYT helpfully trumpeted from their headline? The ones that sounded eerily similar to the boilerplate that gets published every time Iran passes one of their Manhattan Project milestones?

Actually the rocket flew 500 miles farther than originally estimated and - contrary to those early reports - it successfully separated and ignited through the second stage. That was enough to propel it out of the atmosphere. Even before these new estimates came out it was already obvious that the North Koreans had cleared a significant hurdle just by controlling the rocket through staging. What's up for grabs now is how much they've advanced since the failed 2006 launch.

Arguably we'd have a better answer to that if Obama hadn't kept our best sea-based radar system out of play during the launch:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon's most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea's recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis... Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, the Northcom commander... Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Mr. Gates' decision not to use the $900 million radar, known as SBX, was "based on the fact that there were numerous ground- and sea-based radars and sensors in the region to support the operational requirements for this launch."

Current and former defense officials offered other factors that likely affected the decision, ranging from the fact that the radar was undergoing maintenance about the time of the launch to concerns about provoking the North Koreans. One current and two former specialists in strategic defenses said the administration rejected the request because it feared that moving the huge floating radar system would be viewed by North Korea as provocative and upset diplomatic efforts aimed at restarting six-nation nuclear talks.

Arms Control Wonk has some speculation about what those other monitoring systems might have been. We had a ton of assets in the area getting detailed information on the launch, maybe even above and beyond what the SBX would have provided. The Japanese were also collecting information.

Fair enough. It still would've been nice to have it there, if only to see what it can do. There is, after all, a bit of a debate going on about the feasibility of missile defense. But Obama kept it tethered because he didn't want to risk the Six Party talks. How's that going?