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Obama Cabinet Watch: Abandon All Hope Now

Governor “Kim Jong” Bill Richardson is reported to be in the running for appointment as Special Envoy to North Korea, a position the Democrats are talking about dual-hatting with the position of special envoy for human rights. As I noted previously, Richardson’s statements to or about North Korea are conspicuously devoid of any references to North Korea’s death camps, its malign neglect of millions of starving people, or public executions.

Worse, Richardson actively sought out photo ops with officials of the genocidal regime as a marketing gimmick to burnish his foreign policy credentials and sell his ability set aside moral trivialities for the sake of “peace.” What’s the matter, don’t you like peace?

Richardson has three big strikes against him in which I’d invested a lot of optimism: first, he crossed the Clintons (“Judas!“), who must not want him meddling in their foreign policy fiefdom now. Second, he’s under an ethical cloud related to the alleged steering of contracts. Third, the Obama people are reportedly upset that Kim Jong Bill wasn’t up-front about said ethical cloud while he was under consideration for Commerce Secretary.

If Richardson gets the position, I’d say with high confidence that it’s time to abandon all hope for change, and that the Obama Administration will do even worse than the Bush Administration did on pressing this issue with the North Koreans. To make Kim Jong Bill our point-man on getting the North Koreans to do anything we want them to do would be the equivalent of putting Jack Madoff in charge of the S.E.C.

If ever there was a nomination that deserved to be held up, this is it.

See also:

Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton has no better ideas about how to deal with North Korea than the way Chris Hill has been doing it. Bob Gates is ambivalent at best.

And there’s this: “The Barack Obama administration should seek behavioral change from North Korea rather than a sudden collapse of the regime, says the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, which advises the Barack Obama administration. In a report released Wednesday, the CFR also calls for close cooperation with neighbors including China to avoid conflict.” Given China’s generosity to the Clintons, I’m sure there will be plenty of cooperation.

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6 Responses

  1. It would be the same old failed policies if they followed the CFR and/or appointed Bill Richardson as special envoy – I am outraged enough to say that they would have blood on their hands for not doing anything about the crimes against humanity (allowed to continue now for over a half century), including the infanticide and other unspeakable torture methods accounting for the murder of millions of innocent citizens to advance KJI’s “ideology”.

    We need something bold and decisive for a change, something that actually saves the lives of the people of North Korea, instead of perpetuating KJI’s bluff (just see the latest saber tooth rattling by NK, most likely relishing the thought of Richardson as special envoy).

    The only one in the State Department that has the proven will (and frankly, the “starpower”) to publicize what is known about the death camps and to keep up the pressure to (finally!) shut down the death camps is someone well known around the world for her efforts, Hillary Clinton. She’s open to ideas “outside of the box” and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ultimately relies on freekorea.us for those very ideas. Let’s hope that she steps up to the plate and makes the long-awaited groundbreaking history.

  2. Irene, can you cite me some evidence of Hillary Clinton’s concern about the camps? Is this something Mrs. Clinton has expressed, or are you inferring it, and from what?

  3. I don’t see how she could not be concerned about the camps or how anyone else could not be, for that matter. The fact that she or other democratic politicians haven’t spoken out publicly (yet) about the camps is shameful to say the least (I know, that’s the main reason I’m a registered Republican), but I just cannot stand the prospect of Bill Richardson as special envoy, and compared to him, Hillary Clinton is the best alternative.

  4. I don’t know, Joshua, Tim Geithner is a tax crook and the guy who was asleep at the switch at the New York Fed when all the banks were getting into trouble, and he sailed in at Treasury. I don’t think any nomination — even of Satan himself — will get held up if anointed by The One.

  5. Irene: “I don’t see how she could not be concerned about the camps ….”

    You may be the only person on earth who thinks Mrs. Clinton is so sentimental. While I see certain advantages in her pragmatic ruthlessness, there is the possibility that conflicting priorities may prevent concern from translating into humane policy decisions.

    Brendon: “I don’t think any nomination … will get held up ….”

    It only takes one senator.