There's 'no clear winner' in Bolton fight
By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY Tue Aug 2, 7:17 AM ET
President Bush got what he wanted Monday, but not the way he wanted it. And Democrats received yet another reminder that they're out of power. There were losses on both sides in the matter of John Bolton's recess appointment as ambassador to the United Nations.
Senate Democrats twice blocked confirmation votes on Bolton, a nominee Bush fought hard for. Without control of the Senate or the White House, that was all Democrats could do. As soon as they left town for their summer break, Bush played a constitutional trump card used by presidents since George Washington: He gave Bolton the job anyway.
"He's rubbing their faces with Bolton's bushy mustache," said Jack Pitney, a congressional expert at Claremont McKenna College in California who once worked for Republicans on Capitol Hill.
True, Bolton is a temporary employee; he can hold the job for only about 18 months, until the current Congress adjourns. Though he goes to the United Nations with Bush's backing, he goes without Senate approval after a contentious five-month debate over his temperament, character and record. Bush has "shown Congress, and especially the Senate, that he's in charge," said Paul Light, a presidential appointments expert at New York University. "But the person he's appointed is going into office under a cloud. It's like hoping for Tiffany's and getting the Dollar Store."