Month: August 2005

The commentary has begun to percolate on the recess appointment of John Bolton to the United Nations post, for which Senate Democrats twice filibustered rather than allow a confirmation vote. The comments have predictably shown their partisan bias. Republicans, except for George Voinovich, have offered their support and decried the necessity of a recess appointment. Voinovich reiterated his opposition to Bolton but pledged to support him and his work in the future. Democrats, for the most part, have emphasized their opposition to Bolton but kept their remarks rational.
However, in this last group, we have already seen two exceptions, and to no one’s great surprise, the exceptions come from Massachusetts’ Senators, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. Both remain true to form in their reactions. Kerry gets his facts wrong, and Kennedy sees dark conspiracies and abuses of power. Kerry first (emphases mine):

“The president has the right to make this recess appointment, but it’s the wrong decision. It only diminishes John Bolton’s validity and leverage to secure America’s goals at the U.N. John Bolton has been rejected twice by the Senate to serve as our Ambassador to the United Nations. This is not the way to fill our most important diplomatic jobs.”

Kerry gets it wrong yet again. A filibuster does not equate to a rejection; it means that the minority refused to let the Senate vote to accept or reject the nomination. Bolton did not get rejected by the Senate at all, and had the Democrats not filibustered the vote, he would have won confirmation, albeit on a narrow margin. That foregone conclusion led the Democrats to stage the filibuster in the first place.
Either Kerry has spent twenty-odd years in the Senate without learning the difference, or he’s just lying for effect. Given his history of Christmas in Cambodia, running guns to the Khmer Rouge, and so on, I’ll leave it to CQ readers which explanation suits them best. At least Kerry has read the Constitution, however, which is more than one can say for his senior partner:

“The abuse of power and the cloak of secrecy from the White House continues. … It’s a devious maneuver that evades the constitutional requirement of Senate consent and only further darkens the cloud over Mr. Bolton’s credibility at the U.N.”

Cloak of secrecy? Bolton has gone through months of attacks in the media for his nomination to this position as well as a highly contentious Senate hearing. His confirmation literally received endless debate in the full Senate. The White House has talked about the possibility of a recess appointment for weeks. Some secret!
As far as it being an “abuse of power” that evades “Constitutional requirement” of a Senate confirmation, perhaps Senator Kennedy might like to read Article II, Section 2, Clause 3 of that same Constitution:

Clause 3: The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

No abuse of power there; the Constitution clearly gives the President the exact power he just exercised. The Senate appears to have abused its power by denying Bolton an up or down vote on his confirmation, however, because the word “filibuster” doesn’t appear anywhere in the Constitution, nor does the right of endless debate.
Each party has its shrill and un-credible voices. Unfortunately for the Democrats, they picked their leadership from that contingent.

John Bolton accepted a recess appointment as ambassador to the United Nations this morning, bringing to a close a long and embarrassing chapter of Senatorial obstructionism. Bush didn’t hesitate a single day of the Congressional hiatus to elevate Bolton to the top spot at Turtle Bay, a cesspool of corruption and intrigue that sorely needs a firm voice and a stubborn disposition:

“This post is too important to leave vacant any longer,” Bush said.
Senate Democrats had blocked Bolton’s nomination in a dispute over documents amid accusations that Bolton doesn’t have the temperament for the nation’s top U.N. post.
Under the Constitution, the president has the power to make temporary appointments without Senate confirmation when Congress goes into recess. Lawmakers began their current break on Friday.
The recess appointment puts Bolton at the United Nations until at least January 2007.

Senator Chris Dodd tried a last-minute rhetorical block on Bolton’s appointment, warning the White House that a recess appointment would mean that Bolton does not have the “confidence of Congress” in his new position. Quite clearly, the President doesn’t care. Bolton always had Bush’s confidence, and right now Bush wants that position filled by someone who undoubtedly speaks directly for George Bush at all times. He also wants someone who will take on the difficult task of reforming the UN, a task which quickly proved too daunting for the more courtly John Danforth.
If the Democrats want to stamp their feet and pout over this, they have no one to blame but themselves. They have made the filibuster for executive appointments a regular factor instead of the rare technique it had been before the last two sessions of Congress. They still have not learned that elections have consequences and that when voters put a party in charge of both the Executive and the Senate, it means that they intended to see smooth implementation of that party’s agenda.
The filibuster on Bolton should particularly embarrass the Democrats, although it won’t, as the UN ambassador post is a political appointment that only lasts as long as the president wishes. Unlike judicial nominations, it does not carry a lifetime commitment — and as such, Congress has historically given the President leeway in selecting those whom he feels best represent his policies. Filibustering over a document dispute for this long, especially since the effort was made so transparent with the prior example of Miguel Estrada as simple political obstructionism, says much more about the confidence of Democrats about their future as a minority party than it does about their confidence in Bolton as UN ambassador.
ADDENDUM: Here’s an interesting look at recess appointments by recent presidents. Thus far, Bush has 106 in over 4 years; Clinton had 140 in two terms, and Reagan had a whopping 243.