He’s Back!

Former President Bill Clinton has secured the pardon, and soon the release, of two jailed American journalists who have spent months imprisoned in North Korea.

The White House called it a “solely private mission,” but our Alexander Bolton reports today that no, it was a mission blessed by the White House, and therefore requested by the White House.

As with most things Clinton, it couldn’t be more intriguing. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) — chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former Democratic presidential nominee and early endorser of Barack Obama last year (and, by the way, someone who wanted to be secretary of State) — was considered for the mission but passed over for Big Bill. Dramatic as well, since the North Koreans just beat up on Clinton’s wife, calling Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “by no means intelligent” and criticizing her “vulgar remarks.”

Clinton, of course, becomes the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit with the North Koreans since his own secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, went in 2000. And this entire episode will invite a fair share of criticism like that coming from John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, today when he said this “comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists” and “I think this is a very bad signal because it does exactly what we always try and avoid doing with terrorists, or rogue states in general, and that’s encouraging their bad behavior.”

We will see what kind of future bad behavior this might encourage in the North Koreans or other rogue nations. But what’s clear is that President Clinton’s success in returning the two women, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, to the United States is certainly likely to encourage more requests for his rescue diplomacy from the Obama administration in the future. Secretary Clinton will see to that.

After all, this is “two for the price of one,” if you can remember that from 1992.

SHOULD TEAM OBAMA JUST ADMIT THEY SENT CLINTON TO N. KOREA? Ask A.B. returns Monday, Aug. 17. Please join my weekly video Q&A by sending your questions and comments to askab@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com. Thank you.