To be honest, I'm surprised Clinton took the post. It shows how desperate he is to be relevant. I mean, even if he makes a breakthrough in East Timor: (a) None of the elites care about East Timor, only Christian activists care, and (b) People will be suspicious considering how Clinton fixed the Middle East.
Remember that in parliaments, the prime minister often makes his fiercest political rivals part of his cabinet. This keeps them on the same page.
He isn't going to be the ambassador. He's just going along for the ride, as it were. He'll go there, gab for a while, shake some hands, and come back home having made East Timor our good friends (because everyone loves Bill).
Once again, the Deep Game apologists are quick to applaud this move, which only tells me how braindead it really is.
Tuor