Great in their own minds

Dennis Rodman has made a new friend. Unfortunately, he hasn’t got great taste. Rodman’s new bestie is Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s despotic leader. The pair definitely share a delusional sense of self importance.

Rodman decided to go beyond the tabloids and into the history books by being the first American to meet the current leader of North Korea. He came home suggesting that Obama and Kim could use their common love of basketball to work out their differences.

I’m not sure why Rodman thinks he is the man to help negotiate better relations between North Korea and the United States. Skilled politicians and negotiators haven’t been able to pull this off. Did Rodman really think that President Obama was going to give Kim Jong Un a telephone call because Rodman suggested it? That the two leaders would go to a basketball game and their little tiff would be over?
The former basketball player told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that Kim loves power and control, but doesn’t want war. Just after Rodman’s trip, Kim was in the papers clenching his fists and stomping his feet in yet another childish fit because the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose tighter sanctions.

In response to the vote Kim nullified all nonaggression agreements with South Korea and is claiming that he has nuclear-tipped missiles pointed at the United States. All he has to do is push the button.

Both Kim and Rodman are trying to act as if they are more important than they are. Rodman is expanding into diplomacy, while Kim is trying to convince North Koreans and the world that he is as strong as his father. The testing of nuclear weapons is an attempt to say that North Korea could kick some ass if it needed to and that it isn’t just some puny country that can be pushed around.

While North Korea does have the potential to cause damage, it’s not as powerful as Kim would like the world to think. Rodman might be a blip in history, but his trip is more likely to end up in a game of trivial pursuit.