Who knows if he is or isn’t on this particular front. Frankly I think he knows full well he’s in over his head on this sort of thing, and will pretty much do what more experienced people advise him to do. I can’t say as I’ve seen any real change in our NK policy from the the Bush administration. The Dear Leader situation is a tough one, because China is not willing to allow an uncontrolled takedown, and we’re in no position to seriously piss off China right now. Obama’s not bombing the regime off the map for the same reason Bush didn’t.
The reality is that Obama is not writing any letters to Dear Leader without the approval and supervision of the CIA (the *real* CIA, not the fly-by-night political appointees), nor is he making public the information that a letter was sent to Dear Leader unless the CIA felt this was advisable. Whether the letter idea was initiated within the Administration and/or CIA, or whether it’s something done in response to a request from some other country (like China), we’re never likely to know.
This sure seems different to me. I don’t remember any announcements that President Bush was reaching out to Kim in personal correspondence.
I didn’t realize Obama takes his orders from the CIA. If true, I think that would also be different.