Bolton Resigns, Bush Shouldn't Appoint a Replacement

The U.S. has lost a powerful voice in the United Nations with the resignation of John Bolton:

Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday.

Bolton's nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican who lost in the midterm elections Nov. 7 that swept Democrats to power in both houses of Congress, was adamantly opposed to Bolton.

Critics have questioned Bolton's brusque style and whether he could be an effective public servant who could help bring reform to the U.N.

President Bush, in a statement, said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate."

"They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time," Bush said. "This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation."

Bush won't do it, but my advice would be to refuse to appoint anyone else and let the job stay vacant. Bolton's deputies can keep the lights on in the U.S. mission, and that move would send a powerful statement both to the Senate and to the UN that the organization just isn't that important and that the U.S. has little respect for it. The Star Wars Bar on Turtle Bay is a joke, and Bush now has an opportunity to make that point (though sadly, he won't).

UPDATE: Will it be Murtha?