Bush Installs Bolton in Recess Appointment

I have deeply mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I’m pleased President Bush remains stubbornly cognizant of the fact he won an election fought primarily over America’s role in the world. Bolton’s nomination was an MSG-enhanced warm-over of that contest, and Bolton’s fiercest Senate opponents are once-and-potential Democratic nominees (Kerry, Biden, Clinton). Bush, of course, had every right to choose the person he wanted to represent America’s interests and Bush’s policies at the U.N. Democrats had the right and duty to advise and consent on the nomination. Part of that function is to raise and deliberate on legitimate issues about Bolton’s suitability for the job. Which they didn’t:

Despite lengthy investigations, it was never clear that Bolton did anything improper. Witnesses told the committee that Bolton lost his temper, tried to engineer the ouster of at least two intelligence analysts and otherwise threw his weight around. But Democrats were never able to establish that his actions crossed the line to out-and-out harassment or improper intimidation.

Kudos to the AP’s Terrence Hunt for simply stating it. I suppose they docked him a week’s pay for that. But what about the unanswered questions? What of them? Most seem to consist of aspersions, irrelevancies, after-the-fact second-guessing about who speculated what about some secretive regime, or intentional requests for information habitually protected under executive privilege. If I’m wrong, I have no doubt Aaron will set me and the Associated Press straight shortly.

Of course, Bolton’s opponents had help from the superconstitutional standard that kicks in when a senator decides to filibuster, something that seems to go beyond the plain meaning of “advise and consent,” words that were written long before the senate rules on filibusters took on their current form. After the deal on federal judges ended Republican threats to change the filibuster rules (the “nuclear option,” as some call it), the Bolton filibuster went unchallenged. This is the mystery of the hour. Several possibilities here:

1. Bolton really didn’t have the votes and will use the next year to build more support. It’s possible, but the recess appointment will expire in 2007, meaning that President Bush would be facing the same battle all over again. Why prolong and extend that kind of humiliation, embarassing the President before the Congress, the voters, and the entire world? Isn’t Karl Rove allegedly smarter than this? Certainly a man as smart as Rove knows how vulnerable incumbents are as mid-term elections near, and when President Bush’s figuratively webbed waddle will begin to affect a slightly palsied limp. Time isn’t on Bolton’s side.

2. Perhaps Bolton will attend to some crucial bridge-burning in the next year (resign, Kofi!) without fear of Congress’s wrath, knowing that he will exit to some other post thereafter. Bolton’s successor will do his Pontius Pilate impression for the General Assembly. Plausible.

3. Bolton might have had the votes, but President Bush didn’t want to expend the “nuclear option” before DEFCON-5 over the Supreme Court. This is the most likely option. Frist couldn’t get the votes for cloture, and didn’t want to go nuclear until the Supreme Court battle was fully joined. Doing otherwise might have fed public perceptions of overreaching. The nuclear option is something that must appear to be done with great reluctance. Witness the public relations beating Tom Delay took when he changed the House ethics rules.

The problem is that Options 1 and 3 could mean a real weakening of U.S. interests at the United Nations, with every word from Bolton facing colonoscopic scrutiny in the media and Congress. In such a climate, Bolton will find himself under debilitating restraint when deciding whether to call for the resignation of corrupt U.N. officials, block potential Security Council memberships, or call for sanctions against Iran and North Korea. If Bolton enters the stage with incendiary flourish, it’s likely a sign that he’s contemplating accomplishing much in the year before he departs for the Great Think Tank in the Sky.

And before Bush nominates Rudy Giuliani to replace him.

All the more reason for Kim Jong Il to take a pragmatic view of the talks in Beijing.