From the Chicago Tribune-
Confirm John Bolton
Published November 14, 2006
Even as President Bush and Democrats cheerfully chatted about "working together" after last week's power-shifting election, an old fight was resuming over Senate confirmation of United Nations Ambassador John Bolton.
Bolton has been in the job for 15 months, but he has been working under a recess appointment made by President Bush while Congress was out of session. Bush took that path after Democrats blocked a floor vote on Bolton's confirmation. A majority of the Senate appeared ready to support Bolton, but there weren't quite 60 votes to end a Democratic filibuster.
In the interim, Bolton has proved he doesn't have horns. In fact, he has answered any questions about whether he has the right temperament and diplomatic skills for the job. He has worked to build consensus on the world's response to North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's nuclear program, the Middle East conflict and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
He also has won over a key critic. Sen. George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican who voted against Bolton in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced in July that he would support the nomination now.
But Bolton looks like he will be a casualty of the coming Democratic takeover of the Senate. His recess appointment expires when the next Congress convenes in January. President Bush has resubmitted Bolton's nomination, hoping for a vote this week. But Democrats won't budge. "I think we should go to the things that we can work together on," Sen. Harry Reid said (D-Nev.) on Sunday.
In other words, the "bipartisanship" rhetoric didn't even survive a week.
Bolton has played the role of a proper diplomat, but he has also been blunt about the tremendous need for UN reform in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal and the world body's continued coddling of police states on agencies such as the Commission on Human Rights.
Bolton should be blunt about UN reform, a message the body doesn't like to hear. Such distinguished past ambassadors as Democratic Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Republican Jeanne Kirkpatrick also were criticized for tough talk on occasion, even when their passion proved to be right on point.
It is a bad time to have uncertainty about U.S. leadership at the UN, with matters such as Iran and North Korea before the body. If Democrats want to put some heft behind their post-election rhetoric about working with the White House, they will recognize that Bolton has proved himself in the job. And they will allow the Senate to vote on his confirmation.
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