Obama White House thought cronyism is limitless
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Barack Obama was supposed to be the most competent president ever. When his lack of experience came up the establishment praised him as a pragmatist who would surround himself by the most gifted and knowledgable thinkers in the history of ma kind. So why does nobody in the White House have any knowledge of standard protocol?
Via Hot Air, the Washington Times reports that President Obama, the king of HopeandChange, has appointed more polical cronies to US ambassadorships than any of his predecessors?
The White House, unaware of historic norms, had been on track to give more than the usual 30 percent of ambassadorial jobs to political appointees until objections from career diplomats forced it to reconsider, administration officials say.
As a result of the reversal, some donors to President Obama’s election campaign – as well as senior advisers and other supporters of the campaigns of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton – are likely to find their hopes of being rewarded with an embassy dashed.
“The White House has come around, and we truly expect that, at the end of the process, the balance will be within historical norms,” said one senior administration official who asked not to be named because he was discussing internal deliberations.
Mr. Obama has been criticized in recent weeks for continuing the tradition of handing out ambassadorships to major campaign donors with no experience in foreign affairs.
The Washington Times reported Tuesday that an old college roommate, the head of an entertainment production company and a lawyer whose family made its money selling vacuum cleaners are among more than a dozen people who have been given ambassadorships after raising a total of at least $4 million for Mr. Obama’s campaign, according to public records.
Ed Morrissey finds Obama’s lack of curiosity about protocol curious. I doubt it’s a lack of curiosity so much, as it is the belief that he can do whatever he pleases. He is Barack Obama, you know.
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