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Obama’s looks after his own as Ol’ Boy comes to London Embassy
By The Anglo American | October 2, 2009
Louis Susman comes to London as the US Ambassador - just as The Anglo American predicted last February.
In the light of the campaign rhetoric of “change” still ringing in our ears the message the British hear is that business is very much as usual in Washington.
Louis Susman’s appointment goes to a very core difference that exists between British and American approaches to diplomacy.
Britain usually appoints career diplomats as ambassadors - if you ignore Tony Blair’s politicization of the posts. Louis Susman was a Chicago banker and a formidable fundraiser in Obama’s presidential campaign.
There is, of course, nothing in new in this. The previous US Ambassador to London, the affable Bob Tuttle, was a car salesman in California. A career consultant may well try to persuade us to the value of transferring skill-sets to new professional paths. But in truth, it was $200,000 pressed into President George Bush’s campaign hand that pushed him into the plumb job.
The whiff of money and cronyism will result in a collective sigh from Britain’s diplomats at the government’s Foreign Office. If President Obama was looking at strengthening ties with Europe then it was important to break with Washington’s patronage traditions. Britain often plays a pivotal role in strengthening ties between the US and Europe.
A professional diplomat to the London appointment would have gone a long way to sending Europe an important message. Europe would have seen America was serious about mopping up the diplomatic blood that remains on the European carpet from the fallout over Iraq.
As President Obama moves foreword with his foreign agenda this will be seen as a lost opportunity for change.
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