NOTHING TO SEE HERE, NOTHING TO SEE - AT 4:32 P.M. ET:  As is the custom as an administration becomes Carterized, the White House is not alarmed by the latest rhetoric from North Korea:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House says North Korea's threats against South Korea will not give it the attention Pyongyang wants and will only add to its isolation.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that North Korea should live up to its promises and stop its provocations against the South.

Tough, real tough.  And get this punch:

Gibbs says North Korea has threatened to end the armistice many times in past decades but the peace has held.

Don't worry, be happy.

Odd, but the secretary of state doesn't see it that way:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned on Wednesday that North Korea faces consequences for its nuclear and missile tests and denounced its ''provocative and belligerent'' threats.

Clinton also underscored the firmness of the U.S. treaty commitment to defend South Korea and Japan, U.S. allies in easy range of North Korean missiles.

Clinton's stern statement came after North Korea threatened military attacks against U.S. and South Korean warships and called Seoul's decision to join an international program to intercept ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation tantamount to a declaration of war.

COMMENT:  Say what we want about Hellish Hil, but she's probably the best man Obama's got.  Do you sometimes get the feeling she wants to put some air, or bubble wrap, between herself and the president, just in case?

Yeah.

May 27, 2009