Obama nominates fundraiser to Paris post

[DFW]

35. That's NOT the way it worked with my friend, but he was the exception, not the rule

When there was a virus outbreak in Zaire, where he had been ambassador, he left Paris to go down and help the victims. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, and he sure as hell didn't have to--his uncle was prime minister of his country at the time. He was a case where the ambassador was from the foreign service BEFORE his uncle was head of government, and happened to get the Washington (and later Paris) spots while his uncle was PM.

If the ambassador is a political appointment, I'm not saying it is always a mistake, but the appointment has to be someone capable of at least representing the country admirably. Bush appointed buffoons to both London and Paris. His appointment to the Court of St. James came because the donor liked horses, and Cheney knew the Queen liked horses. Nothing more important to discuss with the British government than horses, anyhow, is there? You can make a political appointment without embarrassing the country. I know Clinton's ambassador to Romania. He was a political appointment, but he took the job seriously, did what he did to represent the USA, learned to speak some Romanian, and has kept in touch with his Romanian friends, going back there usually twice a year. Bush's ambassadors went to the races and demanded to put photos on pianos in reception rooms on the Rue Faubourg Ste. Honoré.

T'aint the same.