The Bush administration seems to believe that if something isn’t American then it must be un-American. They see working collaboratively with other nations to address the world’s problems as a burdensome exercise utterly beneath them. They exhibit such arrogance when it comes to foreign relations that it has led to diplomatic disaster after diplomatic disaster, leaving Americans isolated from the rest of the world.
President Bush’s latest action in his quest to antagonize every country on the globe came Monday when he named John Bolton as his ambassador to the United Nations. Jesse Helms has described Bolton as “the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at the gates of Armageddon.” We are not sure what that means, but we do know that Helms might get a chance to do just that, if Bolton has his way. He is another unilateralist hawk, in the mold of Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Cheney, who absolutely despises the United Nations. Bolton said in 1994, “If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
Bolton has also said that “the happiest moment of my government service” was when he signed a letter to the U.N. rejecting the International Criminal Court. One of his high-ranking peers has described him as “an anti-diplomat who tries to intimidate those who disagree with his views.”
But you would have no idea about Bolton’s unilateral agenda if you listen to the propaganda coming from the White House. Press Secretary Scott McClellan said on Monday, “The person that he has selected to nominate to the position of ambassador to the United Nations is someone that shares the President’s strong commitment to making sure that multilateral organizations are effective.”
Right. Here is a perfect example of his strong commitment, from Bolton’s appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor”: “I believe … our foreign policy should support American interests. Let the rest of the world support the rest of the world’s interests.”
This is a beautiful summarization of the Bush administration’s screwed-up view of our role in the world. No wonder Bush frittered away the ground swell of world support following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Our unilateral actions in Iraq have garnered us many enemies and more casualties than was necessary.
And during the election, when John Kerry discussed how he would restore America’s place as the most powerful and most respected nation in the world, the Bush attack machine distorted his words and impugned Kerry’s patriotism. As disgusting as it was, it was a brilliant political move for the Republicans, who fully recognize how jingoistic and navel-gazing most Americans are.
The United Nations has made many mistakes over the years, but the very act of world leaders sitting in a room together is valuable. America is certainly the sole superpower, but even we cannot afford to continue the international isolation that has defined the last four years. Unfortunately, with Bolton at the helm, we can expect many more years of us against the world.

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