Pres.Obama recently appointed Caroline Kennedy to be our ambassador to Japan. The Senate confirmed her unanimously.
This is an unusual and exceptional appointment. There are three forms of ambassadorial appointment.
- The first is promotion in the State Department of talented people. These people are usually sent to difficult and unpleasant outposts. Such would be the case with Pakistan, Mongolia or Guatemala.
-Second are our appointments of wealthy donors. These appointments go to stations that have luxurious living conditions where actual international relations issues are handled at the executive level above the ambassador. Such instances are England, France, Sweden, Italy etc.
-The third instance of an appointment is to a country of vital security interest to the United States. These are states such as China, India, Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Israel. These appointments go to exceptional, politically skilled internationally experienced masters.
The latter is the case for most of the previous appointments to Japan. Caroline Kennedy on the surface would appear to be an exception to this practice. She has no special experience with Japan. She has held no elected or appointed office. She has little or no contact with actual political operatives or officials in the U.S..
Yet Caroline Kennedy was appointed to this vital and important ambassadorship and approved enthusiastically. The reason is straightforward. Caroline Kennedy has deep and influential relations with the entire power structure of the United States. She is part of the political elite. She is widely respected for calm demeanor and good networking skills.
She actually does fit the traditional role for the job of the Japanese ambassadorship. It is just that she comes from the informal side of American politics. Should a problem arise that requires American domestic manipulation by the American ambassador to Japan, she would be as good as anyone.
By the time she takes office, the TPP should be negotiated. She would have been helpful in dealing with many American major protectionist operatives who were dragging their feet on the TPP deal.
(The photo? Caroline asked if the picture of Monica Lewinsky was still taped to the underside of the desk.)