On North Korea, Tough Talk and Failed Policies

Blame Clinton.
Three months ago, Tony Snow said that the Clinton policy towards North Korea failed:

MR. SNOW: Well, this is not the Clinton administration policy. I understand what the Clinton administration wanted to do. They wanted to talk reason to the government of Pyongyang, and they engaged in bilateral conversations. And Bill Richardson went with flowers and chocolates, and he went with light-water nuclear reactors, and he went with promises of heavy oil, and a basketball signed by Michael Jordan, and many other inducements for the "Dear Leader" to try to agree not to develop nuclear weapons, and it failed. But there was, at least, a good-faith effort on the part of some very smart people to use that as an approach.
We've learned from that mistake. One reason not to go bilateral with the North Koreans is what we're seeing right now, which is that you need to have concerted pressure, especially from those who have very close and ongoing ties with the government of North Korea so that you can get results. So this is not a continuation of the Clinton program.

So Bush and his clueless blowhards declared that Clinton failed and that they "learned from that mistake."
What is this, foreign policy by talk radio sound bites? Is that the best our president's spokesman can offer on the failure to prevent the unthinkable from happening? Sarcastic comments about flowers and chocolates? Portray the Clinton team as a bunch of sissies? Is this how public diplomacy is conducted? Rush must love this stuff.
How can the spokesman for our commander-in-chief can say with a straight face that the Clinton policy failed? North Korea didn't test a bomb on Clinton's watch. The bomb exploded yesterday -- not six years ago.
The New York Times reports that UN Ambassador John Bolton continued the Bush program of diplomacy by snide comment:

Asked about former Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s recent comment that “it’s not appeasement to talk to your enemies,” Mr. Bolton said, “If they want to talk to us, all they have to do is buy a plane ticket to Beijing.”

The tough talk may go over great on talk radio and Fox News, but somehow I don't feel more secure.