HONOLULU -- Behind all the diplomatic, and some not so diplomatic, rhetoric in the confrontation between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions are three basic reasons why U.S. President George W. Bush will not offer the North Koreans the nonaggression pact they demand.
One is constitutional: The president's chances of rounding up the two-thirds majority -- or 67 votes -- in the Senate, as required by the Constitution to approve a treaty, are close to zero. Too many senators from right to left would vote against it for various reasons.
The second is political: The president does not want to stir up another controversial issue in the campaign for the presidential election in 2004 -- not when he has Iraq, the global war on terror, medical insurance, unemployment and the budget deficit staring him in the face.