Friends and Allies Rule Obama's Diplomatic Picks With Chicago lawyer and top Democratic fundraiser David Jacobson rumoured to soon be named the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, President Barack Obama is coming under fire from critics who say he has abandoned a pledge to reward more career diplomats with plum foreign ambassadorships. The scrutiny over Obama’s diplomatic appointments grew this week after the U.S. president handed out three of the most coveted postings – in London, Paris and Tokyo – to deep-pocketed friends who raised big money for his 2008 election. Louis Susman, a retired Citigroup executive who was a member of Obama’s national finance committee, is headed to the Court of St. James’s in London after raising more than $200,000 for the White House campaign. Charles Rivkin, an entertainment industry executive who raised $500,000, was nominated as ambassador to France. And Silicon Valley law firm executive John Roos, who also collected $500,000 in donations for Obama, will become ambassador to Japan if confirmed by the Senate. Up next may well be Jacobson, who served as deputy national finance chairman and has reportedly had the inside track on the Ottawa posting since April. Jacobson’s formal nomination as ambassador to Canada is considered a near certainty by Democratic insiders in Washington, but sources say it has been delayed because extensive vetting of candidates has created a backlog in diplomatic appointments. During the election campaign, Jacobson committed to raising at least $50,000 as a ‘bundler’ of individual donations for Obama’s campaign and oversaw fundraising efforts nationwide. Federal Election Commission figures show he personally donated $2,300 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2008, another $2,300 to Obama for America in 2007, and has also given money to past Democratic presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Joe Biden and Wesley Clark. As a candidate, Obama vowed repeatedly to change the way money influenced politics in Washington. Shortly after his election, Obama said he wanted to have civil service diplomats fill as many ambassadorial positions as possible but acknowledged “there probably will be some” political appointees. Of 18 new ambassadors nominated so far by Obama, only five are career members of the foreign service. As president of the American Academy of Diplomacy, Neumann wrote candidate Obama last year and urged him to consider diplomatic qualifications above politics in appointing ambassadors to prominent U.S. allies. More than 30 per cent of foreign ambassadorships during President George W. Bush’s eight years in office went to political friends and donors; the academy wants that lowered to 10 per cent. “We would like to see ambassadors with a demonstrated interest in foreign affairs,” says Yvonne Siu, the academy’s program director. “What ends up happening (with some political ambassadors) is that if he or she doesn’t have a demonstrated interest in foreign affairs, then the day to day work falls to the second, third or fourth in charge at an embassy. It causes a morale problem in the foreign service when that happens.” That view is shared by Steve Kashkett, vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, the union for career U.S. diplomats. "The United States should not continue to be the only country that routinely appoints unqualified people," said Kashkett, per the Associated Press. But America’s most recent envoy to Canada, former Ambassador David Wilkins, says those criticizing Obama for making political appointments are ignoring a key asset that friends of a president bring to their diplomatic postings — access to the most powerful leader on the planet. “I think it is very important to have an individual who has a relationship with the president, who can pick up the phone and make that contact,” says Wilkins, a former Speaker of the South Carolina legislature who ran Bush’s presidential campaigns in that politically-vital state. “Diplomacy is about relationships.” If Jacobson is appointed to Ottawa, he will join a long list of U.S. ambassadors chosen from the ranks of political friends and donors. Prior to Wilkins, Bush had Paul Cellucci, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, in Ottawa. Bill Clinton had Gordon Giffin, who chaired his campaigns in Georgia, and James Blanchard, the former Democratic governor of Michigan, as ambassadors to Canada. In turn, the most recent Canadian ambassadors to Washington – Michael Wilson and Frank McKenna – have been drawn from the inner circles of the governing party in Ottawa. Wilkins said his own relationship with Bush allowed him regular access to the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, and to the president when necessary. “People (in the Canadian government) took you a little more seriously knowing you had that relationship,” says Wilkins. "I had that avenue to the president, and whenever there were meetings with the prime minister or the North American leaders' summit, I would spend a couple of days with the president and have plenty of time to talk. Having that relationship helped the mission here in Canada. I don’t imply that career ambassadors aren’t very good but there is need for balance.” Concerns about lack of diplomatic experience among political ambassadors are overblown, Wilkins adds. “Many distinguished ambassadors have come from the non career ranks. The real question should be qualifications,” he says. During a grilling about the qualifications of the new political ambassadors, Gibbs noted that Rivkin, who is headed to France, actually speaks French and joked that Susman is qualified for Great Britain because he “speaks English.” Depending on when Obama names a new ambassador to Canada, Wilkins says it could take months before he actually assumes the post, because new envoys must be confirmed by the Senate. For Ottawans, that raises questions about the annual Fourth of July picnic at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Rockcliffe Park – a highlight of the summer social schedule in the nation’s capital.
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