| Bush Says He's 'Not Happy' to Accept Bolton Resignation
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_...9990017?cid=842
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WASHINGTON (Dec. 5) - Lacking the votes to keep his job, embattled U.N. Ambassador John Bolton is resigning, a defeat for a chagrined President George W. Bush who had clung to hopes of Senate confirmation.
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Bolton got the position in August 2005, appointed by Bush when Congress was in recess. With that temporary assignment about to expire, and his long fight for confirmation going nowhere, Bolton made it official Monday.
He handed in a resignation letter that did not mention the political fight behind it. It said simply: "I have concluded that my service in your administration should end when the current recess appointment expires."
"I accepted. I'm not happy about it," Bush said Monday afternoon in the Oval Office, with Bolton at his side. Bush did not name a replacement, and officials offered no timetable for an announcement.
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Bush considered Bolton a strong voice as the United Nations dealt with crises in Iraq, Lebanon, North Korea and other complex matters around the world. Bolton also pushed the administration's effort to reform the United Nations.
Most Democrats strongly opposed Bolton, whom they viewed as a brusque, ill-suited diplomat. Some Republicans helped scuttle his nomination, including moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
The president had stinging words for Bolton's opponents.
"They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time," Bush said in a statement. "This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country."
Democrats, though, said Bolton's resignation signaled a fresh start.
"Hopefully this change marks a shift from the failed go-it-alone strategies that have left America less safe," said the incoming Senate majority leader, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada.
"With the Middle East on the verge of chaos and the nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea increasing, we need a United Nations ambassador who has the full support of Congress and can help rally the international community to tackle the serious threats we face," said Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 presidential candidate.
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Republicans blamed the Democrats for Bolton's ouster.
"It also unfairly undermines President Bush's prerogative to appoint his own people to his team," said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. "There's no doubt Bolton is extremely qualified and has done tremendous work."
Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily, circumventing a Congress in recess in 2005. Under that process, the appointment expires when Congress formally adjourns, no later than early January 2007.
While Bush could not give Bolton another recess appointment, the White House was believed to be exploring other ways of keeping him in the job, perhaps by giving him a title other than ambassador. But Bolton told the White House he intended to leave, period.
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