Sometimes The Decider Also Listens

I suppose it's progress, of a sort. North Korea reportedly detonates a nuclear bomb and Pres. Bush immediately announces he "remains committed to diplomacy." Then to underscore the point that he's learned from his mistakes (see Iraq, The War in) and is now open to talking his way out of future conflicts, he lets photographers record him jumping on the Oval Office horn to jaw with Chinese President Hu Jintao about how the world should respond.

I wish him luck, of course. But as we saw last April, when it comes to the Chinese, diplomacy doesn't appear to our president's strongest suit.