I know I should be saying more about John Bolton but I'm a bit lost for words. Yesterday was hell of a victory -- though of the battle, not war, sort -- and I never expected it. I admit, I thought Steve Clemons' all-Bolton, all-the-time, work was informing, but quixotic, and I figured we'd score a few rhetorical points in the hearings but the nominee would sail through anyway. Apparently not. And throwing a wall in front of Bolton means more than the delay and possible defeat of an unqualified UN ambassador, it's as much about the nuclear option and the Senate's right to reject nominees as it is about the man himself. So this one's important, folks, and for the first time it looks like we're in spitting distance of a win. If you want to follow the doings (and you should), Steve Clemons over at The Washington Note has been, and remains, your man. There's not been a non-Bolton post over there in months, and though that's been a disappointment, it's certainly paying off. For analysis, Democracy Arsenal is also well worth checking out, and read down a bit for their discussion about What It All Means.
On a Bolton-related note, Steve Clemons tore some pages out of the Josh Marshall playbook when approaching this battle. Where Josh turned his site into Social Security central and acted as a locus for anti-privatization efforts, Steve has done the exact same thing for Bolton. Is this part of the future of blogs? It certainly helps out the hits and raises the site's profile in addition to giving its author a niche and way to coordinate some activism, so it seems like a natural direction. On the other hand, both Steve and Josh, though the latter just moved to New York, are DC-folk well-connected in their community and thus in command of some important eyeballs -- how much that has to do with the success of their blog activism I don't know. But it's interesting to see this sort of ssingle-issue clearinghouse blog emerge, and more interesting to watch it play a significant role in its fights. How long till every serious issue has a site wholly devoted to blocking/promoting it?
