President Barack Obama, like his predecessors, has declared a clearance sale for plum foreign posting. Pity the US career diplomat. He puts his best years in the foreign service, and the best he can hope for are assignments in Equatorial Guinea. The reason: President Barack Obama, like his predecessors, has declared a clearance sale for plum foreign postings. This year, Louis Susman, who recently retired as vice-chairman of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, was appointed ambassador to Britain. And not because he has any special understanding of Her Majesty’s land. The assignment is his because he raised $500,000 for Obama’s campaign. Likewise, Charles Rifkin, another campaign donor who raised about $150,000 for Obama, has been nominated ambassador to Paris. Tokyo, another plum posting, too, has not gone to a professional foreign service man. It went to lawyer John Roos, who is said to have raised over half a million dollars for Obama. The real issue that this raises is not about prime positions being auctioned for a price. It exposes a deeper cultural trait of the US. Gone is the insistence on individual achievement and merit that is meant to define the Land of the Free. In its place has come class. Now, you can buy and keep important posts at the cost of merit.
