ec 4, 9:56 AM EST

Bush Accepts Bolton's U.N. Resignation

By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent

snip

Critics have questioned Bolton's brusque style and whether he could be an effective bureaucrat who could force reform at the U.N.

President Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily in August 2005, while Congress was in recess. Under that process, the appointment expires when Congress formally adjourns, no later than early January.

The White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination last month. But with Democrats capturing control of the next Congress, his chances of winning confirmation appeared slight. The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, said he saw "no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again."

While Bush could not give Bolton another recess appointment, the White House was believed to be exploring other ways of keeping him in the job, perhaps by giving him a title other than ambassador. But Bolton informed the White House he intended to leave when his current appointment expires, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.

Bush planned to meet with Bolton and his wife later Monday in the Oval Office.

As late as last month, Bush, through his top aides, said he would not relent in his defense of Bolton, despite unwavering opposition from Democrats who view Bolton as too combative for international diplomacy.

Perino said that among Bolton's accomplishments, he assembled coalitions addressing North Korea's nuclear activity, Iran's uranium enrichment and reprocessing work and the horrific violence in Darfur. She said he also made reform at the United Nations a top issue because the United States is searching for a more "credible" and more "effective."

"Ambassador Bolton served his country with distinction and he achieve a great deal at the United Nations," Perino said.

"Despite the support of a strong bipartisan majority of senators, Ambassdor Bolton's confirmation was blocked by a Democratic filibuster, and this is a clear example of the breakdown in the Senate confirmation process," she said. "Nominees deserve the opportunity for a clean up or down vote. Ambassador Bolton was never given that opportunity."

Perino said Bush had reluctantly accepted Bolton's decision to leave when his current appointment expired.

who at least will try to help the UN work. This has made my day, that that dangerous fool is out! Bush I's people must be pulling strings again. Let's see who they come up with.

_{"at some point I'm hopeful I'll figure out something to put here"}

Think Progress

snip

UPDATE II: Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Jim Walsh (R-NY) have led a push to promote Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) — the top Republican on the House International Relations Committee who lost his House seat in November’s election — as the new U.N. Ambassador.

“He is the most diplomatic politician I have ever met,” [Blumenauer] said of Mr. Leach, a moderate from Iowa known for his professorial sweaters, his low-key, nonpolitical approach to issues, and his opposition to the war in Iraq.

“I can’t think of any American better qualified to represent our interests before the United Nations,” Rep. Jim Walsh, a Republican of New York said. Mr. Walsh yesterday joined Mr. Blumenauer in circulating a letter in the House seeking support for Mr. Leach if the acting U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, is forced to resign.

UN ambassador be approved by Democrats? I'm not quite ready with a rousing cheer of, "Hip, hip, hooray," but will wait and see whom it is that the Bush Whitehouse suggests as a replacement.

However, great news that the obstructionist walrus won't continue with his UN duties.

A White House spokeswoman said that among Mr Bolton's accomplishments, he assembled coalitions addressing North Korea's nuclear activity, Iran's uranium enrichment and reprocessing work and the horrific violence in Darfur.

I wonder what failure looks like

"He (Bolton) personified Washington's view of the UN"

and see how he feels being head of an international body lied to by the Superpower for a change:-)

Seriously, I don't think Ban is a strong UN leader and the whole operation is starting to assume the dead man's float position, with some exceptions. The regional organizations are not getting anywhere either. It's scarey out there.

"at some point I'm hopeful I'll figure out something to put here"

Poor little walrus. So forlorn. You could almost feel sorry for these guys watching forty years of planning unravelling.

As this symbol suggests, all forces, natural and artificial, contain within their grasp at their moment of greatest reach the seeds of their reversal and undoing.

A plan engineered by "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to eliminate all extended recesses except for the traditional August break during the 110th Congress may have an added benefit for Democrats," Roll Call reports.

"It could be a back-door way of preventing President Bush from unilaterally installing controversial nominees in key executive and judicial branch posts through recess appointments, a favorite tool of the president over the past six years," John Stanton writes.

Conservative columnist Robert Novak wrote about Reid's plan the other day.

"Sen. Harry Reid, leading the Senate's new Democratic majority, is framing next year's schedule in a way that will make it difficult, if not impossible, for President Bush to give recess appointments to nominees blocked for confirmation," Novak wrote.

Excerpts from Roll Call article:

#

Reid’s scheduling decision could complicate Bush’s efforts to fill top spots during the final two years of his presidency, when high turnover among Cabinet-level officials and other high-profile political positions traditionally is common.

With perhaps 180 or more confirmable positions coming open in January, the administration could find itself forced to either negotiate in earnest with Senate Democrats to fill spots, convince top officials to postpone leaving for a lucrative career in the private sector until August or else make significant use of the Vacancies Act, which allows presidents to fill slots by granting officials from within the various departments and agencies “acting” status as short-term caretakers.

Democrats deny that Bush’s pattern of making often controversial recess appointments in any way shaped Reid’s decision to eliminate long breaks. “It’s not because of the recess [appointment] business,” one leadership aide said. “It’s because [Reid] wants to get things done.”

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