Obama nominates fundraiser to Paris post

[MADem]

16. You're not serious, are you?

Everyone knows that the key ambassadorships go to fundraisers--how do you think Caroline Kennedy (NOT a diplomat, never held elective office, and not a terribly inspiring public ummmmmm, aaaaaaah, like, unnnh, public speaker), got to go to Japan? How do you think Shirley Temple got not one, but TWO, ambassadorships? How do you think JFK's dad, the bootlegger and actress-chaser, got to go to the Court of St. James?

The person who does the WORK is the deputy--they're career civil service and they are great--knowledgeable, smart, able to handle anything and everything from a presidential visit during a key local holiday to a noncombatant evacuation operation of US citizens. The principal diplomats, though, they're cronies and they always have been. Some are better than others, but "eh"--those are bought-and-paid-for gigs.