Saturday, January 10, 2009

A good start anyway...

According to the Associated Press Friday:

Obama anticipates some political appointments

WASHINGTON (AP) - He's vowed to change the way business is done in Washington, but that doesn't mean Barack Obama won't be making some political appointments to ambassadorial posts around the world.

The president-elect told reporters Friday that his "general inclination" is to have career foreign service people in those posts "whenever possible." He says that's one way of "rejuvenating" the State Department and attracting young people.

But Obama said it would be "disingenuous" for him to suggest that he won't be putting some political appointees in embassies.

He says they'll still be "excellent public servants," and that people will be able to judge the "professionalism and high quality" of the people he appoints to those posts.


Of course he will have political appointees...but if we could reduce the number, I think that would be a good start. As I have said before, my current boss is (was) a political appointee. I thought he was great in the job and he'll be missed. But I do think most Ambassadorships and high-level positions in the State Department should be held by careerists.

1 comment:

Kelsey said...

I am glad to see that change. While I do think that having *some* appointees is a good thing (so long as they're good at the job), I have met too many long-service (30+ years) FSOs who got grouchy and bitter toward the end of their time due to being passed over for positions they would have been good for.