The Bolton Embarrassment
John NicholsMon Aug 1, 6:29 PM ET
The Nation -- When the United States sought to be a true world leader, as
opposed to a petulant global bully, this country's seat at the United
Nations was occupied by great men and women. Consider just some of the
amazing figures who have served as U.S. ambassadors to the international
body: former Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., two-time
presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, former Supreme Court Justice Arthur
Goldberg, former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton, former civil
rights leader and Georgia Congressman Andrew Young, academics and public
intellectuals Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jean Kirkpatrick, Madeine Albright
and Richard Holbrooke, former State Department aide and New Mexico
Congressman Bill Richardson, former Missouri Senator John Danforth.
These ambassdors came from different parties and from different ideological
backgrounds, they had different styles and different goals, but they had
one thing in common: They served with the broad support of official
Washington and the American people. When they spoke, they spoke for
America. And they did so in a tradition of U.S. regard for the mission of
the UN, which was perhaps best expressed by an American who served for
three decades as a key player in the world council, Ralph Bunche. "The
United Nations," said Bunche, "is our one great hope for a peaceful and
free world."
To make that hope real, U.S. ambassadors had to be both strong and
pragmatic advocates for the best interests of their own country and
visionaries who recognized that all United Nations member states merited at
least a measure of diplomatic regard. As Adlai Stevenson, who capped a
brilliant career in American politics by representing his country at the UN
during some of the hottest years of the Cold War, explained, "The whole
basis of the United Nations is the right of all nations--great or small--to
have weight, to have a vote, to be attended to, to be a part of the
twentieth century."
Needless to say, John Bolton has never expressed any sentiment regarding
international affairs or the United Nations so well or wisely as Stevenson.
Bolton is a hack politician, a career retainer of the Bush family who is
famous for nothing so much as his disrespect for the diplomacy and
international cooperation in general, and for the United Nations in
particular.
So creepy has been Bolton's partisanship -- he was a prime player in moves
to shut down the recount of Florida votes following the disputed 2000
presidential election -- and so crude has been his behavior that thoughtful
Republicans such as Ohio Senator George Voinovich determined that the
nominee would not be an appropriate representative of the United States.But
President Bush has forced Bolton on the U.S. and the UN, making a recess
appointment that places his controversial nominee in the same position once
occupied by Lodge, Stevenson and Moynihan.
Bolton will serve differently than his predecessors. For one thing, he is
neither the intellectual nor the emotional equal of those who came before
him. For another, he will be seen as a representative only of the Bush
White House -- not of the United States or its people.
At a time when the United States should be a full and active participant in
the United Nations, it will instead be marginalized force -- an embarrassed
land represented by one its most embarrassing sons.
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who as a member of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been a leading advocate for
bipartisan approaches to foreign policy, spoke well for America -- and for
this country's shattered tradition of respect for the UN -- when he said on
the day of the recess appointment: "Mr. Bolton is fundamentally unsuited
for the job, and his record reveals a truly disturbing intolerance of
dissent. Mr. Bolton did not win the support of a majority of members of the
Foreign Relations Committee, and the Senate refused to make a final
decision on this nomination pending review of documents that the
Administration declined to provide in blatant disregard for the Senate's
constitutional rights and responsibilities. But despite all of the warning
signs and all of the red flags, the President has taken this extraordinary
step to send a polarizing figure with tattered credibility to represent us
at the United Nations. At a time when we need to be doing our very best to
mend frayed relationships, encourage real burden-sharing, and nurture a
rock-solid international coalition to fight terrorism and the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction, the American people deserve better than
John Bolton."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20050801/cm_thenation/19416/nc:742
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