William Kristol on the Stakes
By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross on Uncategorized
Now posted on the Weekly Standard’s website is William Kristol’s “The Borking of Bolton,” from the Standard’s May 2 issue. Kristol provides an excellent synopsis of the message that Bolton’s opposition intends to send, and the consequences if the Bush administration loses this fight. Specifically, Kristol states: “Bolton’s accusers want to send the message that it’s okay, perhaps, to agree with a conservative president’s policies — but it’s a career-ender if you take on the bureaucracy or the establishment aggressively on behalf of the president.”
Kristol is referring to Bolton’s willingness to tangle with the State Department’s career officers, who generally have little loyalty to the policies of a president (particularly a conservative president), but who are instead devoted to the State Department’s long-standing culture of promoting “stability” (e.g. an unchanging world).
ConfirmBolton.com contributor Joel Mowbray explores this culture endemic to State’s career bureaucracy in his book Dangerous Diplomacy, which can help to shed light on why Bolton was an unpopular figure in Foggy Bottom.
Kristol continues:
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In this respect, the fight over Bolton is like the fight over Bork. One hoped-for effect of Bork’s defeat was to deter possible candidates for the Court from even considering certain judicial interpretations — just as the assault, in different circumstances, on Lawrence Summers at Harvard is intended to rule out of bounds the raising of certain questions in the academy. Bork’s defeat had real consequences: 18 years of intellectual mediocrity and constitutional incoherence from the Supreme Court. Only now do we have the prospect of once again advancing a constitutionalist reformation for the courts.
Similarly, if the Bolton nomination is lost, there will be real consequences, as presidential appointees start shying away from tough decisions, confrontations with the permanent foreign policy bureaucracy, and “controversial” ideas so as not to be “Boltoned.”
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In these dangerous and trying times, we need people with strong voices to represent our country at the highest levels. It would be a great loss if Bolton’s defeat were to usher in a culture of greater timidity on foreign policy matters.
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