Bill Clinton's Success in North Korea

I expected the resolution of the imprisonment of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee in North Korea to be resolved as a side-deal with the North Koreans. The scenario I envisioned was something like a standoff between the US and North Korea over an intercepted North Korean ship suspected of carrying components for nuclear weapons bound for Burma.

The actual result was substantially better. The women are safely home in the US rather than facing hard labor in the North Korean gulag. That's obviously good. Less obviously good is that it came at a lower price to the US than in the scenarios I'd imagined. North Korea really had few chips to play so the relative value of their hostages was low. Consequently, the price the US paid was having a former president sit on a stage looking at Kim Jong Il like he'd just farted. I'm good with that.