Good On You, Bill.

Let me be straight up. I do not like Bill Clinton. I did not like the fact that he had inappropriate sexual relations with a young female intern at the White House. If this had happened in the private sector, he would have been fired. No impeachment, no trial - just goodbye. Do you think a lawyer who had sex with a female articling student in the firm's library would last more than a day at that firm? I do not like the fact that Clinton lied under oath and lied to the American people. He was disbarred for his misconduct. I do not like the fact that he publicly humiliated his family with his philandering. I do not like his sense of entitlement and his arrogance. I did not like his behaviour during Hillary's primary contest, probably costing her a lot of support. I do not like the fact that he gets hundreds of thousands of dollars for whispering sweet nothings in the ears of adoring fans, although that is probably more envy than anger on my part. So there are many things I do not like about Bill Clinton. In fact, you can take Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" story and substitute Bill Clinton for every mention of "green eggs and ham" - that would sum up my feeling.

But, I have to give credit where credit is due. Bill went to North Korea, posed with Kim Jong-il in a bizarre photo, in which both men looked like they had just been told that their favourite dog had been run over by a tank, groveled a bit, and came home with journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. It was your perfect "win-win-win-win". North Korea got rid of its problem, the journalists were freed without much fuss, Bill gets to be back in the limelight, which he obviously needs periodically for his very survival, and the Obama administration is freed from having to do anything much, which is the President's favourite course of action.

I suspect that the whole deal was signed, sealed and delivered before Bill got there, and as long as everyone kept to the script, everything would go just fine. I know there will be many who feel this was caving in to a crazy person, like negotiating for hostages, but that's not my view. One sometimes has to put some water in one's wine to get results, and this was the "teachable moment".

Good on you, Bill.