Eyebrows raised over Obama’s bungling ambassador nominees

A CENTURY- OLD debate over whether United States presidents should reward political donors and allies by making them ambassadors has flared again following a string of embarrassing gaffes by Barack Obama’s picks.

The nominee for ambassador to Norway, for example, prompted outrage in Oslo by characterising one of the nation’s ruling parties as extremist. A soap-opera producer slated for Hungary appeared to have little knowledge of the country she would be living in.

A prominent Obama fundraiser nominated to be ambassador to Argentina acknowledged that he had never set foot in the country and does not speak Spanish.

Even former senator Max Baucus, the new US ambassador in Beijing, managed to raise eyebrows during his confirmation hearing by acknowledging, ‘‘I’m no real expert on China.’’

The stumbles have highlighted the perils of rewarding well-heeled donors and well- connected politicos with plum overseas assignments. The cases also underscore how a president who once infuriated donors by denying them perks has now come into line with his predecessors, doling out prominent diplomatic jobs by the dozens to supporters.

For several decades, presidents have generally followed a ‘‘70-30’’ rule when it comes to such appointments, nominating career foreign service officers for roughly 70 per cent of US missions abroad and reserving the rest for political allies.

Political appointees account for 37 per cent of the ambassadorships filled so far during Obama’s tenure, according to the American Foreign Service Association. The rate for his second term so far stands at 53 per cent, the group said.

Obama Administration officials say the number has been inflated by a surge of second- term openings in posts typically given to non-diplomats.

Republican Senator McCain, a member of the

John Senate Foreign Relations committee, said in an interview that several of Obama’s recent nominees were ‘‘truly alarming’’ because of their lack of qualifications.

‘‘When you put someone in an ambassador’s position who hasn’t even been to the country, you are rolling the dice,’’ he said.