Obama nominates fundraiser to Paris post

[greatauntoftriplets]

38. They have to know how to entertain without apparent effort and in a grand style.

That's especially true in Paris, where style is of the utmost importance. They also need the life experience not to be intimidated by grand houses (the Paris embassy is gorgeous) or dealing with significant household staff. And, as you say, elsewhere in this thread, it's the deputy who does the heavy lifting. The ambassador represents his/her country and it helps them do their job to have friends in high places.

Also, the historic statistics back the contention that Obama isn't the first president to do this.

And historically, about 55 of those spots have gone to "political" appointees — wealthy donors or top fund-raisers. These are usually gigs in nice, stable countries like France or Italy. (By contrast, countries that require more diplomatic finesse — Egypt, say — tend to get more experienced "career" appointees to head up their embassies.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/07/want-to-be-an-ambassador-in-paris-thatll-be-1-1-million/

Bandar Bush is a great example. So is Perle Mesta from ages ago.