Bolton a poor pick (4/19/05)

Here are two predictions:

First, John Bolton, the president’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, will win confirmation from the U.S. Senate.

Second, before Bolton’s tenure in office is finished he will prove to be an embarrassment.

Bolton, whose nomination is expected to clear the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today, is one of those members of the Bush administration whose opinions drive his approach to the facts. He makes up his mind first, then goes looking for evidence to back his conclusions.

That pattern is evident in his record at the State Department and surfaced again this month in hearings before Sen. Richard Lugar’s committee.

Sen. Lugar has signaled that he’ll vote for the president’s nominee, but he has as much as said that he’s doing so out of loyalty to the president. Sen. Lincoln Chaffee, another Republican on the foreign relations committee, probably spoke the minds of dozens of his colleagues when he said simply that Bolton wouldn’t have been his choice for the job. But even if they have to hold their noses to do it, the majority of the Senate will send Bolton off to the U.N.

What he’ll do there is anybody’s guess. But based upon a track record it won’t be something to be proud of.

Diplomacy requires tact, subtlety, flexibility, and perseverance. Bolton’s history is one of bluster, bombast, rigidity, and pettiness.

Both the Bush administration and the U.N. will survive, but it looks as if a misadventure is about to begin. — J.R.

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