A Bolton from the Blue

As a believer in the great potential of the United Nations (if not its current efficacy), I am particularly appalled by Bush’s selection of John Bolton as the American representative to that body. Not only is he considered the least diplomatic person in the State Department (perhaps in all of Washington), but also because of his vitriolic attacks on the institution he’s now appointed to, he is the last American who any of the U.N. diplomats want to see in that post.


To say that his selection is a thumb in the eye of the U.N. doesn’t quite capture it; it’s more like a thorny stick rammed down the throats of the international body. For Bush to pick this reddest of the red-ass Republicans to go amongst the peaceful-minded and reasonable-toned delegates of the United Nations confirms what others (like myself) have been saying about Bush and his administration, which is that they are infected with the disease of hubris from their own power and need to be severely curtailed.