Posted on 04/20/2009 3:59:35 AM PDT by prismsinc
The prestigious job of U.S. ambassador to China is open — but several high-profile Washington insiders have reportedly already turned down the post.
John Podesta, the Center for American Progress president who headed Barack Obama’s transition team, and former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel have both rejected offers to represent the U.S. in Beijing, sources told Foreign Policy magazine’s The Cable Web site.
“Some people think ambassador jobs are beneath them,” one source said.
“Others think the process to get confirmed is too big a pain. Some people don’t want to move to China.”
Clark T. Randt left the post in January after serving for more than seven years. Candidates to replace him, according to The Cable, include the following:
Bill Owens, a retired admiral who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Bill Clinton presidency Former Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, a Republican who endorsed Obama’s presidential candidacy and was recently named director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics Ken Lieberthal, a University of Michigan professor who advised Hillary Clinton on Asia during her primary campaign. It’s not clear if any of the three have already turned down the job.
That is refreshing. If I were Hillary.....
Does my butt look big.....
I volunteer for the job.
I can teach them to fist-bump.
Cultural harmony.
The problem with Obama’s picks is that while sending a relatively simple pick to the Court of Saint James is just fine, sending a political pick or a party hack to a country as difficult as China is absolutely stupid and shows what a complete and incompetent neophyte Obama is.
Appointing a party hack to the post in China is like, well, appointing a party hack like Hillary Clinton to the State Department.
Oh, my bad. He’s done that, hasn’t he.
Did the Obama team ever get more people in place in Treasury or is Geithner still alone over there? There seems to be a lack of concern for getting govt going with these guys. Frankly I think that’s a good thing but it reflects on their competence.
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