Richard - do you remember your thoughts back in 1983, when Jesse Jackson, then a potential candidate for President, went to to Syria to secure the release of a captured American flier, Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman, Jr?

I know the situations were different - Goodman was shot down over Lebanon while on a mission to bomb Syrian positions in that country.

Many people thought Jesse was grandstanding; Reagan had misgivings. But he got the job done - and then didn't even get nominated.

Were you as cynical back then as you seem to be now?

Susan Estrich, in her column today, talks about this event. She finishes it up with these thoughts -
I don't care if the North Koreans are using him, using us, using sob sisters like me. Two girls are coming home. Two families can breathe again.

North Korea's welcome mat was a well-staged performance by an outlaw nation, but it's also something of a relief. At least they want to look better in the eyes of the world. They want to look like a regular country, the kind of place that presidents and former presidents visit, the kind of place with pretty little girls in fancy dresses carrying beautiful flowers.

Of course North Korea is not a regular country. We don't sit around wondering whether regular countries can bomb Hawaii. Or whether they will. North Korea doesn't play by the rules that we think, generally, make "states" less dangerous, which is why the girls were seized, why the families held their breaths, why it took Bill Clinton to bring them home.

Still. Being used is better than being bombed. Lives are more precious than photo opps. It's still a happy ending, and there aren't so many of those to celebrate that I'm going to give this one up.
Emphasis is mine.