I heard about the North Korean nukes on the BBC World Service this morning on the way to work.
I can’t say I was surprised.
I can say I was disappointed.
Not in the North Koreans–we knew what they were up to since the mid-90s.
I was disappointed in the President for treating the North Koreans like dirt.
If he had followed the stratgey laid out by the Clinton administration–unilateral talks and technological assistance designed to take away the advantage of having nuclear weapons–and followed the advice of his own Secretary of State, Colin Powell, the North Koreans wouldn’t have announced they had nuclear weapons today.
But Bush II has a pathological hatred for anything out of the Clinton playbook.
Bush II looked the North Koreans in the face, called them idiots, called them evil, and now they have the nuclear bomb because they want to be protected from us.
I’m disappointed in our government.
I’m disappointed in the fifty percent of America that voted for Bush this time.
I’m disappointed in the forty-five percent of America that voted for Bush last time.
Bush may call his style “Texas diplomacy,” but it’s the diplomacy of the schoolyard bully. Pick on a kid long enough, and if he’s smart enough he’ll find some very clever ways to make you regret the tauntings. That’s what Bush’s Texas diplomacy is. We’re the bully. North Korea is the taunted kid.
And it’s why I won’t sleep soundly tonight.