(Video) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Condemns Libyan Attack That Killed U. S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 others in Benghazi

Obama sending ambassador to Syria

Last time there, 4 years ago...

President Barack Obama has decided to return a U.S. ambassador to Syria after a four-year hiatus as talks between the two nations intensify, U.S. media reported Tuesday.

The State Department informed Syria's ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustafa, of Obama's intention Tuesday night, a senior administration official told the Washington Post.

By returning a senior U.S. envoy to Damascus, Obama is seeking to carve out a far larger role for the United States in the region as he works to rehabilitate U.S. relations with the Islamic world and the Arab Middle East, the newspaper said.

"It's in our interests to have an ambassador in Syria," a senior administration official told CNN.

Mustafa welcomed the decision to name a U.S. envoy to increase dialogue among stakeholders in the Middle East, CNN said. The announcement of a new ambassador is expected to be made later this week but no individual has been chosen to fill the post, the report states. read more here....

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Ambassador announcement from Obama White House

President Obama announced 7 new ambassadors today:

Matthew Barzun, Ambassador to Sweden
John R. Bass, Ambassador to Georgia
James B. Foley, Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia
Kenneth E. Gross, Jr. Ambassador to the Republic of Tajikistan
Samuel L. Kaplan, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco
Jerry P. Lanier, Ambassador to the Republic of Uganda
Teddy B. Taylor, Ambassador to the Solomon Islands, the Republic of Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea

Full run down here.

And Obama's List of Ambassador Nominees Here

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Obama appoints more ambassadors....

More ambassadors announced by the White House. Check the past announcements, here.

President Barack Obama has tapped four big Democratic Party donors for plum ambassadorships in Europe and Latin America while naming six career diplomats to posts in Africa, the Mideast and the Pacific.

Washington lawyer Howard Gutman, who raised more than $500,000 for Obama's campaign and personally contributed the maximum $4,600 to it, was nominated to be the next U.S. envoy to Belgium, the White House said in a statement Thursday.

[snip]

Obama named former Virginia Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer to be ambassador to Switzerland and Luxembourg. Beyer, who made his money as a car dealer, raised more than $500,000 for Obama and also contributed $4,600 to his campaign, according to the center.

Vinai Thummalapally, a Colorado business executive and Obama friend who raised between $100,000 and $200,000 for the campaign and donated $4,500 to it, was named the next U.S. ambassador to Belize. Thummalapally's wife, Barbara, contributed $2,800 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. read more here...

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More Ambassadorships.....

More announcements....

Today President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for ambassadorships, the White House said in a statement: Brookings' Carlos Pascual, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, as ambassador to Mexico; the White House Office of Presidential Personnel's David Jacobson, a partner at the law firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, as ambassador to Canada; Raytheon's James B. Smith, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, as ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the White House's Director for Presidential Personnel Donald Gips, a former domestic policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore, as ambassador to the Republic of South Africa; career Foreign Service Officer and U.S. ambassador to Burundi Patricia N. Moller as ambassador to the Republic of Guinea; businesswoman and philanthropist Nicole A. Avant as ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas; career FSO Kenneth H. Merten as ambassador to the Republic of Haiti; and career FSO and ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne E. Derse as ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania.

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Obama names Ambassadors

He unleashed a list today:

The White House put out a list of top ambassadorial posts today, naming an early supporter, former 9/11 Commissioner and Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, Ambassador to India.

And some things never change: To the donors go the true plums.

Obama also gave out a traditional prize to a top fundraiser, making Chicago banker Lou Susman Ambassador United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland. A top California campaign fundraiser for Obama will be Ambassador to France.

Other interesting picks include Rev. Michael Battle, a prominent minister who will be the Ambassador to the African Union; Miguel Diaz -- a Catholic scholar, rather than the usual campaign donor -- who gets the Vatican portfolio; and former Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund President Vilma Martinez, headed to Argentina.

The rest, with less glamorous posts going to career foreign service officers:

* Thomas A. Shannon, Ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil
* Laurie S. Fulton, Ambassador to Denmark
* Robert S. Connan, Ambassador to the Republic of Iceland
* John V. Roos, Ambassador to Japan
* Christopher William Dell, Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo
* Patricia A. Butenis, Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives.

And the France appointment goes to:

To other capitals, Obama planned to nominate Charles Rivkin, an outside homeland security adviser, to France. A former financial analyst, he also ran entertainment companies such as The Jim Henson Company and Wild Brain Inc.

AFP

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Fundraiser for UK Ambassador

Not surprised.

President Obama will nominate key Democratic fundraiser and investment banker Louis Susman to be the country's ambassador to the Court of St. James. Susman bundled $300,000 in donations towards Obama's inauguration, and was a major fundraiser for Senator John Kerry's campaign as well. Susman, 71, retired in February from his post as vice chairman of Citigroup. Ambassadorships are frequently meted out as rewards to a successful campaign's high-rollers. Obama said in January that he would probably appoint some top donors as ambassadors: "It would be disingenuous for me to suggest that there are not going to be some excellent public servants but who haven't come through the ranks of the civil service," he said.

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Obama announces Governor Jon Huntsman (R-UT), Ambassador of China (Video & Transcript)

Damn, smart move.....

Remarks of Obama and Huntsman

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Obama to name Utah's Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., Ambassador to China

WHOA!!! Who saw this one coming?

President Barack Obama plans to name Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr., a rapidly rising star in the Republican Party, as ambassador to China, a senior administration official said.

The move is freighted with political intrigue. Huntsman, who speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, quickly emerged after November as one of the leading moderate GOP voices.

Huntsman is often mentioned as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012, although some of his advisers think the party primary voters will be more prepared to accept his moderate views on the environment and gay rights in 2016.

Huntsman, who met with Obama’s transition team to discuss energy policy, was in Washington on Friday night, ahead of a planned Saturday announcement by the White House, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Several Utah news organizations said the governor will resign and accept the appointment.

Huntsman, 49, served a Mormon mission in Taiwan. The governor and his wife, Mary Kaye, adopted a daughter, Gracie Mei, from China in 1999. In 2006, he led a trade mission to China "because of their prominence on the world stage and the way in which they are growing so rapidly," he told the Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City.

During last year's Republican primaries, he endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), while his father — businessman Jon M. Huntsman Sr. — endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. It was a politically shrewd move by the son, because the family was covered regardless of which candidate went on to be the nominee. And Huntsman advisers calculated that Romney would be unlikely to install a fellow Mormon in his Cabinet.

The move has political ripple effects for both parties, giving Democrats one less potential challenger to worry about, and elevating the prospects for Romney and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R).

Ambassador to China is a more substantive job than many postings because of the national-security issues. George H.W. Bush, the future president, held the job from 1974 to 1975.

The Salt Lake Tribune

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Eyes on Ambassador Appointments....

Yesterday a question was asked about these ambassador appointments, during Obama's Q&A after announcing his Intelligence Team.

Obama was frank, said this:

President-elect Barack Obama today acknowledged that some of the ambassadorships he assigns will go to big-money Democratic donors, and not to experts in the diplomatic corps. However, the president-elect said he'd try to keep those "political" appointments to a minimum.

But then when asked about big dollar donors this came:

The Democrat admitted that there would inevitably be some donors who end up being assigned ambassador posts.

"There probably will be some," he said. "It would be disingenuous for me to suggest that there are not going to be some excellent public servants but who haven't come through the ranks of the civil service."

But the president-elect said that his general inclination is to have civil service "wherever possible" serve in these posts.

Now DemConWatch has Anna Wintour of Vogue back in the spotlight for the ambassador post to France:

[T]he fashion world is buzzing over the rumor that Wintour might leave "with a guillotine glee akin to that which preceded the death of Marie Antoinette."

See — the whole fashion world is aflutter. Additionally, the Post called Obama's transition team and a spokesman offered "no comment." So he didn't deny it. It's hard to imagine Anna giving up her clothing allowance and the exquisiteness her job allows her to surround herself with — from the models to the clothes to the socialites she employs — for a stuffy government job. But then again, if Sanjay Gupta can leave the glamorous life at CNN behind to become surgeon general, anything's possible!

Great comparison, because Sanjay Gupta if he leaves for US Surgeon General will take a MASSIVE pay cut. We are talking about television, his own show, and the various other media outlets he participates in, and his practice. Wintour is doing the same thing, Vogue, mad clothing allowance, not to mention free stuff from designers, all the perks for a government job?

It is said that Barack Obama has a way of pitching to one that it is difficult to refuse. Plus, many want to be a part of this transitional administration, so to feel that you are part of the real change this country needs domestically or internationally is a choice that is really made down deep inside.

Finally, to become the Ambassador of France, sorry I would NEVER COMPLAIN. It is not Iraq or Afghanistan. Ok?

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