WH Rips Rodman, Kim Jung Un

On Monday, Obama press secretary Jay Carney ripped into the North Korean dictatorship for inviting former NBA star Dennis Rodman for a visit. “Instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain the elites of that country,” said Carney, “the North Korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people who have been starved, imprisoned, and denied their human rights.”

Of course, the Obama administration has done nothing about those human rights abuses in North Korea. Rodman told ABC News that Kim Jung Un had asked Rodman to act as intermediary between President Obama and the dictator. “The United States has direct channels of communications with the DRPK,” said Carney, dismissing Rodman’s request. Carney and the rest of the Obama administration have never been shy in the past about diplomacy with dictators. Why their reticence begins when a crazy former basketball player echoes that same message remains an open question.

“Kim loves basketball,” said Rodman on Sunday. “Obama loves basketball. Let’s start there.” Both Obama and Kim also like doing nothing about the incipient North Korean nuclear program. Perhaps Obama could start there, too.