Candidate Richardson Arrives in Pyongyang

New Mexico’s governor, Bill Richardson, arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea yesterday to hold negotiations with the sociopath regime there. The White House has blessed his delegation's visit, which is not part of the six-party talks aimed at diffusing the mess on the Korean peninsula but which is aimed at saving the deal that exists. As former US ambassador to the UN he has visited North Korea in the 1990s and again in 2005 for a total of six trips there. He is extremely well-placed to make progress in these negotiations. He is also running for president, and one would think this would all be to his benefit. Unfortunately, the American political system doesn’t select for diplomatic genius.

Governor Richardson is, in virtually every way imaginable, presidential material, even when measured against good presidents rather than the current one. He knows as much about the world beyond America’s borders as any of his countrymen, and he has been a reasonably successful governor – an executive position that often makes a good warm-up for the Oval Office (Presidents Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush the Lesser were all governors before they lived in the White House).

Unfortunately for Governor Richardson, he is not the most telegenic candidate in the Democratic race (that’s probably Senator Obama), he is not the best connected nationwide (that would be President Clinton’s wife), nor is he a past national nominee (Senator Edwards is). In the money primary, he raised “only” $6 million in the first quarter of 2007, and he still has $5 million on hand. That puts him fourth; Senator Edwards in third place had more than double the cash coming in. The man is entrusted with the future of the nuke negotiations, but he can’t get a mention for his candidacy because he doesn’t have enough money (and who decided that?)

The current log jam in North Korea-Rest of the World relations is the $25 million belonging to North Korea that has been frozen in a Macau bank. While it looks like a recent “hitch” (as the US State Department described it) has been resolved, Pyongyang refuses to move on its commitments of February 13 to de-nuke itself until it gets its cash. The deadline for the deal that is foundering is Saturday, April 14. The former ambassador is optimistic, since North Korea asked him to come. “I believe for the first time they do want to enter into an agreement with the six-party countries and they want a better relationship with the United States,” he told NBC.

If his visit helps salvage the deal and North Korea does start dismantling its nuke capabilities under international inspection, the world will owe him a debt of gratitude. America will owe him as well, but he probably won’t be rewarded with the Democratic nomination. There are, however, a great many less qualified to be National Security Advisor and/or Secretary of State. The current occupants of those positions are prime examples.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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