Kofi Annan Rayburn

John Bolton tendered his resignation yesterday and I am sorry that he did. I understand his chances of being confirmed were zero. But I think his tenure in the UN Ambassador's role was a net positive. That is despite the push back he got from the Secretary General and his deputy, Michael Malloch Brown.

The administration of Annan has been corrupt. No doubt about it. Mr. Annan has disgraced the UN. His administration of the Iraq oil for food program was tainted and rife with bribes and kickbacks. His administrative role in assuring that UN funds are spent prudently, was non-existent. The UN's condition is at the lowest it has been in its history. The UN is a fragile model. Its intended balance between large and small states was always precarious. But Annan and his crew have destroyed both the moral and practical authority of the body to act. In kickbacks and peacekeeping scandals and structural nonsense (allowing abusers of human rights to participate in the human rights committee) Annan has allowed the body to become less important at a time when we need it.

From all the press reports about Bolton, he is not a very loveable guy. He is described as abrupt and at times arrogant. That is a charge that is also leveled against the US. And in a final shot, Annan commented that Bolton should have understood “ that to get concessions, they have to make concessions.” You will remember that legendary Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn said about young congressmen that "to get along" they needed to "go along." The problem with that logic in the House and that logic in international diplomacy is the same. When there is the level of corruption present that there is in the UN, making concessions means allowing the crooks to continue to steal.

Thankfully, Annan is going into the sunset (albeit not soon enough for my tastes). His successor looks like someone who might be able to begin to address the manifold problems that face the body. Hopefully, whoever the President nominates to replace Ambassador Bolton, will bring at least some of the pluck that Bolton brought to the job.