Donating Generously Can Make You an Ambassador

One of the most generous donors from the election campaign, who used his connections to raise hundreds of billions of dollars, will be Obama’s choice for the new ambassador in London. Despite all his promises to clean up in Washington and retiring he criticized practices his predecessor had used, Obama named Louis Susman, former president of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, to be the ambassador to the United Kingdom. If George Bush called on the services of former Goldman Sacs CEOs- ex-Treasury secretary Henry Paulson as well as former deputy secretary of the State Department and current World Bank president Robert Zoellick – it seems like Obama is no stranger either to connections from the world of big American finance. Citigroup places among the U.S.’s top four banks and also has a high ranking in the top 20 corporate donors. Although they have had a slight preference for Democrats up until 2006 (which was in the middle of the Bush era), 51% of all donations went to Republicans.

Susman’s nomination was made along with the ambassadorships for other major capitals, most of them selected outside the Foreign Service. Making no reference to the “elective” merits of those chosen, Obama justified his selections by invoking the extraordinary experiences of all the nominees.

The Vatican will receive a Cuban theologist, Tokyo will get a prestigious attorney who specialized in Internet and biotechnology related issues and Paris will receive an internal security counselor and former financial analyst, whereas for positions in Kosovo, Iceland, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Obama opted for professional diplomats.

Concerning the people who came from outside the Foreign Service, the president said: “I am grateful that these fine individuals have made the admirable decision to serve their country at this crucial moment in our nation’s history.” Just as Bush did, the president is rewarding his allies with diplomatic positions, such as in the case of former Romanian ambassador Nicholas Taubman – with a career of 45 years in the car industry and with no diplomatic experience whatsoever, but has given about 500,000 dollars worth of donations over the years to the Republican Party. Also, just like Bush – who named his ambassador to Bucharest in November 2005 a year after winning his second term – Obama doesn’t seem to consider nominating an ambassador to Romania among his priorities at all.