Even Better Than Having Bolton as Ambassador to the UN

Every now and then the law of unintended consequences works out for the best. That’s just how it’s turned out with the nasty campaign last year to block John Bolton’s confirmation as ambassador to the UN. Bolton during his time at Turtle Bay was as good an ambassador as we’re going to get; but getting anything useful done at the UN is a labor of Sisyphus, and even Bolton could not get far. He was dealing with the Kofi-crony crowd in the Secretariat, the thug-packed General Assembly, the permanent hypocrites on the Security Council, and at his back was a back-stabbing State Department that under Condoleezza Rice seems to be harking back to the foreign policy of Jimmy Carter. It was a mix that left Bolton as ambassador toiling away against impossible odds on what were hopelessly flawed official initiatives to begin with.

Bolton is now clear of all that, free to speak his mind, and from the American Enterprise Institute has become a desperately needed voice of sanity in Washington. He has an important article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal — vital reading — on “The North Korea Climbdown,” addressing the recent attempts by “Washington’s most important person — the Anonymous Senior Official” to spin away the North Korean nuclear threat.