The picture that greeted me when I powered on the computer this morning was oddly comforting in a reminiscent sort of way.  Bill Clinton, looking every inch the elder statesman in a well-cut, dark suit and blue “power” tie dwarfed Kim Jong Il, wearing his usual army-green under a wacky smile.  My response was visceral.  I felt better just knowing Bill was over there, “handling things”. 

And then I heard the purpose of his visit.

I wonder…

Am I the only one who sees irony in sending Bill Clinton on a mission to rescue two women from a despot?

Don’t misunderstand….I love Bill Clinton.  I’ve been an ardent fan since his first administration.  For a few minutes, I was one of the hopeful who surmised that a vote for Hillary would actually be a vote for Bill, but that was before his campaign blunders left me wondering if he had lost his edge after having heart bypass surgery several years ago.  I didn’t vote for his wife, but that doesn’t mean I love Bill any less.

It’s an unusual man, who in one breath mixes edgy sex appeal with the assurance that “Daddy is gonna take care of everything”.  And, it’s a heady mix.  I felt pride in the way Bill held his white-mane head and shoulders above tiny Chairman Il.

But in considering his mission, I couldn’t get the caricatures out of my head.  In the nine years Bill Clinton either campaigned or held office as president, he was impersonated seventy-three times on Saturday Night Live, and I must have seen at least seventy-two of them.  Darryl Hammond’s version is the one that comes to mind.  His is the face I saw peering between steel bars at the frightened prisoners.

“It’s okay, baby.  Billy’s here.”  Hammond’s voice and intonation, too, are dead on.

This afternoon, CNN announced that The Chairman had pardoned the prisoners, and release was expected at any moment; Bill’s mission was deemed a success.

Some international incidents require the use of arms, and others, charm.

Bill Clinton’s got charm…