^ Bolton saw the writing on the wall and knew his time was up. He wasn't going to be approved even by the outgoing Congress. I think the Bush Admin. saw it too but in the interest of not appearing as a defeat they accepted his resignation.
i'm curious FB- what didn't you like about Bolton as ambassador? was it his efforts to root out corruption at the UN? perhaps it was his efforts to engage the UN in dealing with a nuclear North Korea, or his efforts to prevent Hezbollah's take over of Lebanon, or his refusal to acquiesce in the nuclearization of Iran? or is this just another example of your willingness to sacrifice what's best for this country, the UN, and the world, for a political defeat for GW Bush?
Answering for myself and not FB, Bolton wasn't a total failure and did better than people expected but he still did a very poor job at the UN. His rude and undiplomatic style actually did more to set back UN reform efforts as when he came in there were many people who wanted to reform the UN but Bolton's rudeness did nothing to help it. Some commentators have stated that Bolton's intent never was to reform the UN but to further diminish it and understood that that could be done by alienating potential reformers. Bolton had a few successes in regard to getting cooperation on Iran but got practically nothing done in regard to Hezbollah as the US couldn't, and wouldn't, pull agree to a unified stance regarding what was going in Lebanon until it looked like a disaster for Israel. On NK the US did get some action and rhetoric regarding the missile and nuclear test but compared to previous diplomatic efforts the response has been weak and not universally enforced. So Bolton wasn't terrible but his performance left much to be desired.
