Appeal to the U.S. Senate: Do Not Confirm These Amba$$adonors
The day was not half spent before the house was full of office seekers, halls, corridors, offices, and even private apartments were invaded; and this throng continued and increased for weeks, intercepting the President on his way to his meals; and strange to say, about every tenth man claimed the honor of having raised Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, until he was fain to exclaim ‘Save me from my friends.’ ~ Elizabeth Todd Grimsley (cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln)
Message to Senate Democrats:
Please save President Obama from his friends. So wrapped up in healing the economy, global statecraft and fending off rabid Tea Party barn-burners, he absent-mindedly signed off for Senate confirmation on a slew of ambassadorial wannabes whose lack of competence to be the nation's diplomats is matched only by their munificent contributions to the president's election campaign coffers: A TV soap opera assistant producer who provided a mulligan stew of incoherent responses before the Foreign Relations Committee regarding U.S.-Hungarian relations. A Long Island hotel plutocrat whose intellect was AWOL, if not MIA, as he paraded his ignorance over Norway during his confirmation hearing. And a party cash rainmaker whose embarrassingly wrong characterizations of chronically misgoverned, neurotically-led Argentina caused SRFC members to put off a decision on his confirmation. Public ridicule over the committee's soporific approval of Ms. Bell and Mr. Tsunis no doubt brought back to life members' consciences, if not their political sense.
The grassroots attention to these cases should be sobering for the Senate. A sleeping giant has awakened in the form of the Norwegian-American community. Not known for being hot-headed iconoclasts, the good folks of Lake Wobegon have mobilized opposition against George Tsunis to become U.S. ambassador to Oslo. They're circulating a petition urging the president to withdraw his nomination. Their vocalness is such that Minnesota's Senators Klobuchar and Franken have informed the White House that they cannot support the nomination. The continuing media attention to the nominees has made a laughing stock of administration personnel decisionmaking.
The latest polls show congressional approval ratings teetering below 15 percent. Contributing to this subzero public esteem is the disturbing swell of Big Money in our politics. An indication of this is the surprise bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, in which author Thomas Piketty warns against "a drift toward oligarchy." The demand by super rich dilettantes for ambassadorships is so strong that the going price for a prized European post has now reached about $2 million. This is what corruption does to governance.
Hungary borders Ukraine. Norway borders Russia. Argentina's economy is again at risk of implosion. The president's ambassadorial nominees to these countries have demonstrated clearly that they lack the most basic of qualifications. The so-called "Certificates of Competence" recently released by the State Department for each nominee are exemplars of bad fiction writing.
So, senators, confirm these candidates at your own risk. By voting for them, you'll have to answer to the good folks of Lake Wobegon -- and journalists like me who are still paying attention.
See also --
Why Does America Send So Many Stupid, Unqualified Hacks Overseas?
Russian Diplomats Are Eating America's Lunch
How to Buy Off U.S. Senators in Your Quest to Purchase an American Ambassadorship
Petition Asking President Obama to Withdraw the Nomination of George Tsunis as U.S. Ambassador to Norway
The U.S. Ambassadorial Crapshoot: Why Political Hacks Make Bad Ambassadors
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