Bush Channels Bill: The new North Korea deal is surprisingly Clintonian.

[rpannier]

President George W. Bush finally got a nuclear deal with North Korea because he finally started negotiating like Bill Clinton.

A constant mantra for the past dozen years—chanted by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on several occasions—is that the Agreed Framework, which the Clinton administration signed with North Korea in 1994, was a naive and disastrous failure.

And yet the deal that Bush's diplomats just negotiated is very similar to Clinton's accord in substance—and nearly identical in its approach to arms control.


snip


It's worth noting, in this respect, that, two weeks ago, Robert Joseph resigned from his job as undersecretary of state for arms control, citing concerns about the status of talks with North Korea. Joseph, who had previously handled the same portfolio at the National Security Council, took a hard line against making any concessions to Pyongyang.


full story at:
http://www.slate.com/id/2159736?nav=ais

[NYC Liberal]

1. I'd say all the killing and chaos in Iraq is "[un]surprisingly Bushian." nt

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I think this cartoon in today's Washington Post sums it up very well.

[whistle]

3. What part did Condi Rice play in any of this? None