This is just pathetic. The Bush Administration has a foreign policy touch that rivals the gentleness of Lennie, the giant from Of Mice and Men who could barely touch anything without killing it. Even the North Koreans are so fed up, they're turning to a Democratic Governor for someone to talk to. Look, when the North Koreans think you're too obstinate and arbitrary to even talk to ... well, that's like being called ugly by a frog, as the old saying goes.
The story and some discussion of the embarrassment/disaster/dark comedy that is the Bush foreign policy below the flip ...
{First, the ritual disclaimer this time of year: I say nice things about Bill Richardson here. That does not mean that Bill Richardson is my candidate for President. This is more about contrasting visions of the world. I'm still in "research mode" on 2008 and as soon as someone wins the vital BriVT Primary, they'll be notified by the ritual presentation of a gallon of maple syrup and a block of fine Vermont cheddar. Thanks ... }
Once again, the North Koreans turn to Santa Fe to talk to a Democrat when they have things to discuss, traveling to New Mexico to meet with Gov. Bill Richardson today. From CNN.com:
Gov. Bill Richardson is to meet Friday with two top North Korean officials in New Mexico.
The governor's office said Wednesday that the North Koreans asked for the meeting to discuss upcoming multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
The six-party talks, scheduled to resume Monday in Beijing, will include North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.
Richardson said that while he will not act as an official representative of the Bush administration, he will do whatever he can to move the talks forward.
"I believe we have an opportunity to use diplomacy to end this crisis and bring stability to the Korean Peninsula," he said. "I will press the North Koreans to start dismantling their nuclear weapons."
Richardson has a long history of dealing with the North Koreans, including convincing the North Koreans to return to the negotiating table when he flew to North Korea on a plane provided by the Bush Administration. God, is that administration pathetic. And why they're pathetic can be seen in this little article from last summer, detailing a little sparring session between Richardson and Tony Snow (need to click through an annoying "trial pass" thing to see link):
Gov. Bill Richardson fired back at White House press secretary Tony Snow on Tuesday, as the two engaged in a sharp war of words over North Korea. An obviously irritated Richardson accused Snow of getting his facts wrong and being "ungrateful" after Snow on Monday ridiculed Richardson's history of negotiating with North Korea. "Tony Snow doesn't let facts get in the way of a snappy quote," Richardson said in a lengthy written statement provided to the Journal on Tuesday. Richardson also contended that due to current policies, "the North Koreans are more dangerous than ever, and the region is more unstable." Snow told the press Monday that when Richardson traveled to North Korea as United Nations ambassador under President Clinton, he unsuccessfully wooed North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "with flowers and chocolates" to convince the isolated leader to give up his nuclear ambitions.[...] Richardson said his work in North Korea— first as a congressman, then as U.N. ambassador and even as governor of New Mexico— has yielded results. "I negotiated the release of a downed pilot and a political prisoner and handled a number of diplomatic chores for the administration," Richardson said. "And let's not forget that the president provided a plane for me last October so I could travel to Pyongyang to meet with the North Koreans, conversations that resulted in the North Korean delegation returning to the negotiating table. "This shows how ungrateful the administration is, despite the progress we were able to make during that visit," Richardson said.
There it is in a nutshell: the Bush Administration has the mentality of children, reveling in name-calling and cheap political stunts while the world slowly disintegrates, even denigrating the work of someone they turned to when they couldn't even manage to talk the North Koreans to the table.
This is a really big deal for the next election. Democrats, for the first time in many years, have an opening to shift our nation's role internationally into a less militaristic and more diplomatic one. Remember, in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion, until the final "rally 'round the flag" effect, the majority of the country wanted the US to work through the UN and were actually against the invasion without that step (a fact that seems to have disappeared down the memory hole). So Americans are not resistant to an internationalist approach. And now, the Bush folks have so discredited the go-it-alone, militaristic approach that a simple rejoinder like Richardson's (Richardson also contended that due to current policies, "the North Koreans are more dangerous than ever, and the region is more unstable.") carries a lot of weight.
And lord knows that it needs to be a vital part of the Democratic message, both politically and practically. Politically because it's what we as a party believe, imo, and when we stand up for our beliefs we're much better off. And, as I said, the Bush Administration, by taking the "tough guy" Republican approach to a real, live reductio ad absurdum ("but, by that logic, we'd invade anyone we want and only talk to countries we like!"), gives the Democrats an opening to pull the country in our direction. Or, more accurately, to pull the policy of our government in the direction of the people's wishes.
And, practically, it's possibly the most important thing the next Democratic President can do. Bush has destroyed the world's diplomatic structure almost as completely as the corporate structure of Arbusto Energy and our place in the world as completely as his old business disasters.
The world is, in short, broken into little pieces, with the centripetal force threatening to send shards of alliances and individual nations off in all sorts of directions. The Middle East alone could be the scene of unbelievable chaos and bloodshed in the years ahead. Only a new, Democratic vision of diplomacy, engagement, and coalition-building can have any hope of a better future.
It's time for Democrats to take the offensive on a broad front of international relations. From the proper use of the military to greater use of diplomacy and foreign aid, all of the mainstream Democratic ideas of folks like Clark and Richardson are popular and will enjoy broad support in a general election against a hack, tough-guy Republican.
As of now, I put all of the Democratic contenders with a chance within this view of Democratic ideas, too, until proven different; they just don't have the demonstrated history of the two I named (needless to say, for me it's a deal breaker in the BriVT Primary if someone follows a more traditional, military-first approach, and I'd guess for the party at large, as well).
It's just too good an opportunity for a fresh approach, and just too important for the world that we seize this opportunity, for Democrats to fail to jump on it. I hate to get too melodramatic, but literally thousands, maybe millions, of lives are at risk here.