Bush and Senate must work together to fill U.N. vacancy

In the immediate aftermath of the November election, we were so caught up in the moment of change that we suggested the Senate might want to demonstrate its commitment to a new political day by giving President Bush his U.N. ambassador of choice for the final two years of his term.
It was not to be.
John Bolton, who held the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations temporarily has resigned in a four-sentence letter to the president. It was the right thing to do, under the circumstances.
Bolton held his post only by virtue of a recess appointment, a tactic the president used when Bolton's nomination couldn't even clear the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when it was controlled by Republicans. Bush resubmitted Bolton's name Nov. 9, perhaps confident that it would clear the committee in the light of a change of heart by Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio , a member of the committee who said he had been so impressed with Bolton's performance during his 15 months at the U.N. that he would now support confirmation. But another Republican on the committee, Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, said he would now oppose Bolton.
Opposition remains
Without the Republican votes to clear the committee during the lame-duck session, it was clear that the only way Bolton could win would be with Democratic support. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., the incoming chairman of the committee, made it clear that Democrats remain opposed to Bolton as the ambassador.
With the clock running down on Bolton's tenure -- his recess appointment expires with the end of this Congress and a second recess appointment is prohibited -- the president 's options were limited. He could have attempted another end-run, naming no new ambassador but keeping Bolton at the U.N. in a capacity that would not have required Senate confirmation but would have made him de facto ambassador.
Bolton, whatever other failings he may or may not have had, was enough of a diplomat and a realist to know that resorting to such subterfuge is no way to run a diplomatic mission. His resignation makes it clear that he is ready to move on with his life after the United Nations, and thus removes any temptation Bush may have had to take on the new Democratic majority in the Senate over the U.N. post.
It also gave Bush an opportunity to express his deep disappointment that "a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate" -- even though it was senators from his own party that kept Bolton's case from reaching the Senate floor.
An obvious need
The president accused Bolton's opponents of disrupting U.S. diplomatic work "at a sensitive and important time." But that simply points up the need for the president and Senate to work together to send a new ambassador to the United Nations as quickly as possible.
The Founding Fathers did not give a president a free hand in naming ambassadors. The Constitution was written to give the Senate a pivotal role in the confirmation process.
Too often, this president has treated Congress as if it were irrelevant, and too often Republicans in the House and Senate allowed the president to function as if the presidency were imperial.
As the president said, this is an important and sensitive time for U.S. diplomacy. He should respond by sending a consensus nominee to the Senate and the new Senate should respond with speedy confirmation.
Bolton meanwhile, can go on a speaking tour and begin writing a book -- enterprises that are bound to net him millions of dollars.