What did Bill Clinton Get?

Everybody is speculating on what Kim Jong Il got in exchange for the two American reporters. I think we’ve already seen what he got —

dinner and a photo op with Bill Clinton, Just like a real world leader. Kim Jong Il is like that annoying person we all know who so craves attention that they engage in bad behavior just to get it. Dinner and a photo op with Bill Clinton gave him a thrill he’ll never get from direct negotiation with the U.S. over his nuclear program.

But what did Bill get? If you’ve seen the picture from the above mentioned photo op, you saw Bill Clinton looking pissed! And who wouldn’t be after spending several hours at a dinner party kissing Kim Jong Il’s ___?

The truth is that North Korea was right on this one. I don’t mean that 14 years hard labor was an appropriate sentence, I mean that the reporters were guilty of the crime they were charged with — sneaking into North Korea. You don’t accidentally wander into North Korea anymore than you would accidentally wander into a military base.

The two reporters in question work for Current TV, Al Gore’s cable TV network. Freelance reporters may get to aimlessly wander the globe gathering stories where they may, but reporters employed by news organization s, even fifth tier outfits like Current TV, report to someone. What I’d like to know, and what I’ll bet Bill would like to know, is who at AL TV approved these women’s sneaking into North Korea?

Bill Clinton clearly went to North Korea as a favor to his former VP. Bill and Al are not exactly best buddies, whatever cordiality there was in their relationship pretty much ended when Gore blamed Clinton for his loss in the 2000 presidential election. Clinton is reportedly incredibly resentful and jealous of Gore’s Nobel Prize.

Bill Clinton is far to shrewd not to have extracted something from Gore for this favor, but what does Gore have that Clinton wants?