Policy Shifts Felt After Bolton's Departure From State Dept.

"'Throughout his career in the first Bush administration, he was always playing the stopper role for a lot of different issues and even when there was obvious interest by the president in moving things forward, Bolton often found ways of stopping things by tying the interagency process in knots,' said Rose Gottemoeller, a Clinton administration official who worked on nonproliferation issues. 'That's the situation we're seeing dissipate now.'

Whether the shifting policies reflect Bolton's absence or his absence reflects shifting policies remains a point of debate. When she took over as secretary of state in January, Condoleezza Rice moved to sideline Bolton and reverse some of his approaches, U.S. officials said. By proposing him for the United Nations, she effectively moved him out of the policymaking center at the department's Foggy Bottom headquarters." (full article at link)

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Play hard-ass for too long, and the mob of enemies you've made will eventually gloat at your funeral.
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