John Bolton calls it quits

John Bolton calls it quits
U.N. ambassador to step down as recess appointment expires

With his nomination stalled in the Senate, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will resign, the White House said today.

President Bush placed Bolton in the position temporarily while Congress was in recess in August 2005, but the appointment expires when the session begins in January.

Democrats and some Republicans have fiercely opposed Bolton's nomination, contending he is too combative for the role of international diplomat.

Bush resubmitted Bolton's nomination last month, but with Democrats' recapturing Congress, his chances of confirmation were slim.

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who will take over chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said he saw "no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again."

In a statement, Bush said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate."

"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. "This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation."

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said Bush reluctantly accepted Bolton's resignation. She hailed the ambassador as a reformer at the U.N.

"Ambassador Bolton served his country with distinction and he achieved a great deal at the United Nations," Perino said.

Perino pointed to Bolton's success putting together coalitions to confront the nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran and to address violence in Darfur.

She also criticized Senate Democrats for not taking up Bolton's nomination.

"Despite the support of a strong bipartisan majority of senators, Ambassador Bolton's confirmation was blocked by a Democratic filibuster, and this is a clear example of the breakdown in the Senate confirmation process," Perino said. "Nominees deserve the opportunity for a clean up or down vote. Ambassador Bolton was never given that opportunity."