With his mission to North Korea to secure the release of two imprisoned journalists, former President Bill Clinton officially joined Team Obama — but whether he proves a durable asset is less certain.
The White House on Tuesday remained secretive about the trip, which press secretary Robert Gibbs described as a “private mission.”
“This obviously is a very sensitive topic,” Gibbs said. “We will hope to provide some more detail at a later point. Our focus right now is on ensuring the safety of two journalists that are in North Korea.”
The former president was in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Tuesday and is expected home shortly with Lisa Ling and Euna Lee, two reporters detained there since March 17, allegedly for an illegal border crossing.
The highly unusual mission is the first major undertaking Clinton has made on behalf of President Barack Obama, whom he bitterly criticized during the 2008 Democratic primaries.
What role the former president would take and how it could complicate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s work has been a matter of open speculation since she accepted the job from her former political rival.
“I think people understand, even President Clinton understands, that Democrats face a number of serious problems and this is no time for screwing around,” said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. “He has to be on the team or get out of the game.”
Even so, Bill Clinton is a notorious wild card — a major player on the international stage with potential to prove significantly more meddlesome than former President Jimmy Carter often was during his international forays.
“It’s like sending in Bono, or Sting,” said Rice University political scientist Bob Stein. “The good news is that Clinton is a statesman, but the problem is, you don’t always know what he’s doing.”
A successful mission by the former president could show up Obama, who is struggling with foreign policy challenges that include turmoil in post-election Iran, continued problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, a flat response to the coup in Honduras, and the stalled Middle East peace efforts.
Clinton also complicates the efforts of Hillary Clinton, who has been working to establish her own credentials and role within the administration alongside foreign policy buffs like Vice President Joe Biden.
Clinton said recently she has no plans to run for president again and described her relationship with Obama as excellent.
Still, her first major foreign policy speech recently was pre-empted by Obama, who scheduled a concurrent event on health care reform that stole most of the media coverage.
Ling and Lee work for Current TV, the Los Angeles-based company founded by former Vice President Al Gore. Gore initially was rumored for the mission, but Obama turned to Clinton because of his standing as a former president.
“For the North Koreans, political face is as important as substance, and someone of Clinton’s stature gives them enough face to release the two women on humanitarian grounds,” said Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
