As far as I can tell, the Bush administration drew a line in the sand for North Korea, North Korea stepped over it and called the U.S. bluff, and now the president’s gang are saying, “Gee, we don’t have any choice but to negotiate here, otherwise North Korea will incinerate Seoul.”
It’s the worst possible position for an international power to be in — with its credibility shot and no apparent plan for either diplomacy or force. How can the otherwise bellicose Bush team have found itself in this mess?
It looks like another example of Bush Syndrome — that way our president has of responding to major events by saying, “Don’t bother me with reality, I’ve already made up my mind.” The syndrome has hitherto been on display in the administration’s economic policy, which has doggedly stuck to precisely the measures least likely to lift us out of the lingering recession because, well, they are what Bush embraced back in 1999. In the case of North Korea, Bush has already determined that Saddam is public enemy number one. Who cares that North Korea is more volatile, closer to nuclear capability and less predictable?
Josh Marshall’s comments today are worth reading.
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