Kerry and Korea

One of John Kerry’s favorite talking points this year is that the Bush administration has not done enough to quell the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. What, pray tell, would he do better? The record would indicate he would follow the lead of previous Democrats. Previous Democrats who have had experience dealing with North Korea would be Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Those two did a wonderful job back in 1996, essentially giving away the farm and putting us in the predicament we are currently. So, let’s toss out give and take negotiations of Clinton/Carter, because it turns into North Korea taking, and the United States giving, and North Korea developing nuclear technology, anyway. Next, let’s toss out the military option. Nobody really wants to go that route. We are sufficiently stretched that we’d prefer not to have to 500,000 troops to protect the South, and the South is understandably twitchy since their capital is within artillery range of the North. Besides, the military will never be an option for Kerry, anyway. What does that leave? Multilateral pressure, which is what is being exerted right now. It is most crucial that Chinese pressure is brought to bear on the North. Which is what we are trying to do.

I know that Kerry has no interest in sending out a truthful message right now. His goal is to criticize without offering solutions, to keep the attention off of himself by staying on the offensive at all times, to clutter the airwaves with junk in an effort to dilute charges against himself, and to generally fool as much of the electorate as possible. Too bad. Al Gore had more substance and was 100 hundred times a better presidential candidate for the Democrats than Kerry. Instead of any kind of meaningful debate during a period when we need it, all we are getting from Kerry is junk politics.