04:25 pm
As If Anyone Cares
John Bolton — John Bolton! — offers his reaction to the appointment of Susan Rice as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations:
John R. Bolton, who was one of Mr. Bush’s ambassadors at the United Nations, would not discuss Ms. Rice’s selection, but said it was unwise to elevate the position to the cabinet again.
“One, it overstates the role and importance the U.N. should have in U.S. foreign policy,” Mr. Bolton said. “Second, you shouldn’t have two secretaries in the same department.”
Apparently Bolton has forgotten that Jeane J. Kirkpatrick held Cabinet rank in the Reagan administration. Last I checked, nobody has ever suggested that she was a second Secretary of State, or that her role somehow overstated the “role and importance the U.N. should have in U.S. foreign policy.” If they had, Kirkpatrick herself probably would have laughed them out of the room.
This demonstrates just how far removed Bolton is from the mainstream of foreign policy: he can’t bring himself to be gracious about the appointment of the successor to the man who succeeded him. I’m not arguing for intellectual dishonesty here, but all Bolton had to say was “I congratulate Dr. Rice and wish her the best. That said. . .blah blah blah. . .I continue to freaking hate the UN. . .blah blah blah.”
Setting aside the obvious ax he has to grind (or is it a wrecking ball?), Bolton argument that elevating the post to Cabinet rank somehow creates a second Secretary of State reminds me of a friend of a friend who was yammering on about how she didn’t think that beauty was that important in a relationship, to which my friend, who happens to be quite attractive, smiled sweetly and said, “Jealous?”
It’s must be galling to see others get what you never had: respect. It must be doubly galling to know that, unlike Bolton, Ambassador Rice will have the ear of her President. Oh, and that she’ll actually get confirmed. And that even leading Republicans will vote for her.
I’d say I feel Bolton’s pain but I’d be lying.
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