He’s a former Chief of Staff to Obama and the former mayor of Chicago. From what I know about him, which granted isn’t a ton, he has zero experience in international diplomacy aside from whatever he might have seen second-hand as Chief of Staff.
There’s two types of ambassadors: for countries you have tense relationships with, you send the professional diplomats who are really good at negotiating for things without starting wars.
For countries who are friends and you aren’t going to have tough negotiations with them, you send somebody who has good connections to the president. The ambassador gets a cushy job for 4 years that’s basically a reward, and the foreign country gets the message that an ambassadorship there is treated as a reward for the president’s friends, which strengthens the relationship
He’s a former Chief of Staff to Obama and the former mayor of Chicago. From what I know about him, which granted isn’t a ton, he has zero experience in international diplomacy aside from whatever he might have seen second-hand as Chief of Staff.
There’s two types of ambassadors: for countries you have tense relationships with, you send the professional diplomats who are really good at negotiating for things without starting wars.
For countries who are friends and you aren’t going to have tough negotiations with them, you send somebody who has good connections to the president. The ambassador gets a cushy job for 4 years that’s basically a reward, and the foreign country gets the message that an ambassadorship there is treated as a reward for the president’s friends, which strengthens the relationship
He was recently interviewed by Steven Dubner on Freakanomics. He said he was offered the choice of China or Japan and that he chose Japan.