Bashing Bolton Reaches The Absurd
By Jon E. Dougherty (05/13/05)
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, thinks Undersecretary of State John Bolton is rude, "arrogant," "bullying," and "the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be." At least, that's how he described the State Department's top arms controller in hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which Voinovich is a member, on Capitol Hill Thursday.
But out of respect for President Bush's decision to nominate Bolton to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Voinovich said he thinks it's only fair the full Senate judge whether his characterizations of this career public servant are accurate and, more importantly, enough to derail his nomination. Personally, he says he'll vote against Bolton.
Voinovich's characterization of Bolton differs significantly from that of another GOP moderate, fellow committee member Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana. Lugar admits Bolton has rubbed folks the wrong way, but said he is "an aggressive policy-maker who pressed his missions at every opportunity and argued vociferously for his point of view." And, Lugar adds, the president is right in that Bolton is just the right man at the right time for this job.
In examining these two divergent opinions from similar-leaning members of the same party, it is increasingly obvious that Lugar is correct.
In case Voinovich and Co. missed it, the UN has been in the news a lot lately, and very little of it is favorable. The world body has been a party to the $64 billion oil for food scandal; its peacekeepers have been accused of rape and abuse of young girls in The Congo; theft at the World Meteorological Association; corruption at the UN audit department; the resignation of the refugee high commissioner Ruud Lubbers, over sexual harassment charges; problems in the Electoral Assistance Division; and corruption allegations tied to the U.N.'s Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization.
All of which begs the question: How much more damage could tough-guy Bolton do? It seems to me any reform he pushed would result in an improvement, even if he was "arrogant" when it got it pushed through.
Voinovich says Bolton's behavior would have gotten him fired in the private sector (as if Donald Trump's laconic demeanor isn't standard fare in the world of big business and high finance). Truth be told, however, all of the corruption and criminality perpetrated by UN officials and their surrogates over the past few years would have led to indictments in the private sector.
But the point is moot because Bolton isn't working for a private company, he's working for the American people. And right now the people need a pit bull representing their interests in the shady, crooked halls of the UN – not another UN apologist. Overlooking the world body's past corruption hasn't exactly forced it to clean up its act. And, as Sen. George Allen, R-Va., says, "We are not electing Mr. Congeniality. We do not need Mr. Milquetoast."
Bashing John Bolton has become great sport among critics of his no-nonsense, "get it right" style. That's ironic, considering they are the same ones still criticizing the Bush White House for getting it wrong about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But then again, not much about the opposition's criticism of Bolton has been accurate. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., provides a telling example.
"We have already lost a lot of credibility at home and abroad after the fiasco over the intelligence on Iraq, and Mr. Bolton is not the man to help us to rebuild it," he said Thursday.
Washington's policies haven't worked out perfectly, to be sure, but any U.S. lawmaker suggesting American credibility is suffering more than that of the UN is in an acute delusional state that, were they employed by the private sector, likely would get them fired.
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