Monday, May 09, 2005

Bolton Time

Fire of Liberty

Jed Babbin has a great column in today's edition of The New York Post on the ongoing battle within the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over Secretary Bolton's confirmation to the UN. Just look what Mr. Babbin has to say:
We should have learned a lesson from the days of Moynihan and Kirkpatrick. When we send a tough-talking ambassador to the U.N., it doesn't end the nitwittery there — but it can at least expose it.

That lesson was lost in the last two decades. Rather than using the U.N. as a bully pulpit to condemn the worst in the world, our U.N. diplomats have been very . . . diplomatic. Even as the United Nations failed to act against the Rwandan genocide of the late 1980s — or the Sudanese genocide of today.

Which brings us back to John Bolton. Bolton is no bully, but precisely the kind of person who can use the U.N. as a bully pulpit. As the president said at his recent press conference, "John Bolton is a blunt guy. Sometimes people say I'm little too blunt. . . . If you're interested in reforming the U.N. like I'm interested in reforming the U.N., it makes sense to put somebody who's skilled and who's not afraid to speak his mind at the United Nations."
If Bolton's not available, how about Babbin?

No comments: