Several weeks ago the idea of sending Gov. Bill Richardson or former vice President Al Gore to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, had been mentioned as a possibility. Richardson, for those who haven't followed his career, has secured the release of other Americans held in North Korea and has traveled there several times.
My former colleague T.J. Sullivan had this observation on Twitter last night:
The Associated Press story on President Clinton's trip to Korea is HERE
"Bill Clinton going to N Korea to negotiate release of 2 journalists, proving Hillary is still pissed at Bill Richardson."
(Oh, no! Going to Twitter to find T.J.'s tweet, I noticed Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White had a tweet similiar to the headline of this blog post. Darren's was an hour ago. Great minds ...)
I don't know whether this literally is a sign that the secretary of state is still angry that Richardson endorsed Barrack Obama last year instead of her or whether it's a reflection of the governor's diminished clout due to the grand jury investigations. Most likely it has something to do with the fact that a former president might be better able to get things done.
One difference between Clinton and Richardson is that the former president got to meet with Kim Jong Il himself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that when Richardson has gone over there, he didn't get an audience with the Dear Leader.
UPDATE: Kim pardons U.S. journalists! CLICK HERE
Posts
