<![CDATA[McCain criticizes Clinton on N. Korea | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA:
Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton, the husband of his potential 2008 White House rival, of failing to act in the 1990s to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.
Remember when the Republicans would point to any success Clinton had and say it was due to Reagan, but any difficulty he had was his own fault?
I’d really like a government that examined its own actions and took responsibility. Senator McCain and his party have been in control of foreign policy for years. I’s time they acknowledge their bungling on North Korea since 2001 so that they and we can start to make some progress.
Blame Clinton? Blame Bush and the Republicans, there was real progress on North Korea during the 1990s—because the Clinton team was focused stopping North Korea from developing nuclear weapons instead of demonizing daft little Kim Jong-il for publicity’s sake. As Thomas Friedman explains today:
When an administration can’t make up its mind between regime change and change of behavior, it gets neither. And that is what the Bush team has gotten.
Senator McCain, take aim at the real problem.
UPDATE: If Freidman’s take on the situation isn’t your cup of tea, consider the take of former Secretary of Defense William Perry:
President Bush, early in his first term, dubbed North Korea a member of the “axis of evil” and made disparaging remarks about Kim Jong Il. He said he would not tolerate a North Korean nuclear weapons program, but he set no bounds on North Korean actions.
Technorati Tags: accountability, North Korea, Republicans
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