Searching for an end game in the Korean crisis

Jimmy Carter left a legacy with the Middle East Accord between Egypt and Israel, and Reagan made his legacy with his role in the fall of the Iron Curtin across Eastern Europe and end of the Soviet Union.

This is the Obama opportunity, the potential legacy for him to go down in history as one of the great US Presidents, at least in foreign relations. And this is what Americans wanted in 2008 and the Nobel Peace Prize Committee anticipated in early 2009.

The ding dong rhetoric on our screens each day is taking everybody nowhere. Each party is really saying what they want in the outcome of talks and labeling them as prerequisites. Anybody who has completed "Negotiation 101" knows that doesn't work.

So now the US has extended its Foal Eagle exercises, North Korea will continue to make aggressive comments in retaliation, and the moment for Obama's finest accomplishment is being wasted. An Obama trip to North Korea would empower Kim Jung-un to go down the road of change. It is risky, but President Obama went to Burma, and Cambodia. But unlike Cambodia, Obama would be given a hero's welcome in Pyongyang and bring the best hope of peace on the Korean Peninsula in 60 years.

Obama would through his own personal charm and charisma through diplomacy achieve what all the military might of the United States has not been able to do in 60 years.

But President Obama will most probably not be counseled in this manner in Washington and he would have to make this judgment with his own intuition. South Korea would also be very insecure with this initiative, and he would have to bring the South along with him.

Unfortunately, something as simple as pride and the ingrained behavioral patterns the "cycle of tensions" have created will prevent this scenario occurring. There is a chance Kim jung-un has been misread, and it may be time for Barak Obama to use his own 'gut feelings' on the matter rather than sticking to the 'win-lose' script currently in play. He has little to lose, a visit to Pyongyang would greatly enhance world respect for him. If he succeeded his 'Asian pivot' strategy would pay off big time.