Bush, Clinton, North Korea, Nuclear Bomb: A Timeline for the White House

1992: President Clinton elected President

North Korean nuclear status: no bomb

1996: President Clinton reelected President

North Korean nuclear status: no bomb

2000: Supreme Court installs President Bush

North Korean nuclear status: no bomb

2002: President Bush declares North Korea, Iran and Iraq members of axis of evil. Says Bush:

"[Our goal] is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th. But we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.

North Korean nuclear status: starts to get a little hazy, but probably no bomb

2004: President Bush relected

North Korean nuclear status: getting hazier...

2006: President Bush still President

North Korean nuclear status: BOMB!

October 10, 2006: White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, explaining who is to blame for the North Korean acquisition of the bomb (from the NY Times):

Mr. Snow said that the approach pursued by President Clinton — which led to an agreement halting the North Korean nuclear program, an agreement Pyongyang is later believed to have violated — “made a lot of sense, but didn’t work.”

He said that the Bush administration has “learned from the mistakes, from the inability of prior administration efforts.”

Likewise, Mr. Bolton asserted that “the nuclear threat was really uncovered during the Bush administration.”

To recap, just in case the timeline isn't clear:

-- President Clinton: no nuclear North Korea
-- President Bush, six years into Presidency after vowing to prevent and contain WMDs in North Korea: nuclear North Korea
-- White House official stance: Clinton's fault, appeasement didn't work

Here's my final thought, one you wouldn't be able to read in the NY Times: What a fucking joke.