The Candidates on North Korea, Part 3

I haven’t had time to dig up the various statements of Mike Huckabee and Hillary Clinton, but here are some perfectly fine efforts by Jack at DPRK Forum and Don Kirk in the Asia Times. I don’t agree with Kirk’s inference that McCain would support of keeping a large ground force in South Korea; I tend to think he’d be the most likely (except for Paul) to give the whole arrangement a fresh look.

I also found this page at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Paul, aside from being, you know, a closet racist who takes money from David Duke, wants full trade relations with North Korea. No doubt Paul would oppose trade sanctions against lampshades made from Darfuri children. Not only is Paul kind of out of the presidential election, he is facing a serious challenge in his home district. Which speaks well of our society.

Clinton tries to talk a hawkish game, but I don’t believe a word of it. Clinton certainly would come with a pre-packaged group of proteges of Madeleine Albright, Wendy Sherman, and Jack Pritchard. Her policy would be a redux of her husband’s, and you won’t hear her say otherwise. In Clinton’s case, policy may influence voters less than who she reminds us of.

I didn’t get around to reviewing Romney’s Korea policies before he dropped out. Romney was an early skeptic of the North Koreans, if not of Agreed Framework 2.0 itself, but something about him seemed too malleable and composite. What if his advisors told him to go the opposite direction from his own judgment? Like Obama, something about him made me think it’s not his year yet. My dark fear is that all of this probably hurt him less than his religion, which reflects badly on our society. I’ve never understood the animus toward Mormonism — just look how frequently it seems to make better people — and for the record, I’m not asking for anyone to explain it. Strangely, I think Joe Lieberman might face a less prejudiced reaction that Romney did (Does that reflect well on our society? I suppose the answer is still “no.”) But Romney went out with class, and for that, I’ll look more favorably on him next time. So should John McCain.