SO MUCH FOR THE "PRIVATE TRIP" - AT 5:21 P.M. ET:  The White House, representing an administration that said it would be the most transparent in history, says that Bubba's trip to North Korea was "private."

Apparently not.  From The Hill:

The Obama administration asked former President Bill Clinton to travel to North Korea meet with leader Kim Jong-Il to negotiate the release of two American journalists who were imprisoned for entering the country illegally, according to a congressional source briefed on the matter.

Clinton was accompanied on the trip by John Podesta, his former White House chief of staff, who is an informal adviser to the Obama administration.

John Bolton, whose common sense is rejected by the fashion plates of the diplomatic establishment, has a very tough take on what's happened.  From AFP:

John Bolton, an outspoken hardliner in the previous administration of George W. Bush, told AFP that Clinton's mission to Pyongyang undermines a number of public stands held by his own wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists," Bolton told AFP when asked about Bill Clinton's trip to secure the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

And...

"I think this is a very bad signal because it does exactly what we always try and avoid doing with terrorists, or with rogue states in general, and that's encouraging their bad behavior," Bolton said.

In a US television interview here on July 26, Secretary Clinton warned North Korea that even its traditional allies had turned against it and that the communist state's rogue behavior will no longer "be rewarded."

Bolton has more to say:

The visit also undermines Secretary Clinton's public remarks in which she separates the case of the two journalist from efforts to force North Korea to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks, he said.

"Hillary has said she wanted to delink the two but (Bill) Clinton was met at the airport by Kim Kye-Gwan who is the lead and has been for 15 years or more the lead North Korean nuclear negotiator," he added.

So much for our foreign policy.  What do a few contradictions mean when Obama can now have this "victory" and a great photo-op, with CNN toasting the great moment in history.

We really do have Carter II.

August 4, 2009