While he has received little or no criticism from the media, President Barack Obama has continued the practice of awarding major donors with plum diplomatic postings. Now, his ambassador to Luxembourg, Cynthia Stroum, has resigned after an investigation showed such poor management and conduct that embassy staff are in need of emotional counseling.
Obama picked Stroum who is a major democratic donor. He picked her after she helped him collect $500,000 in contributions. That is the equivalent of one dollar for every inhabitant of Luxenbourg.
The Seattle businesswoman was accused by staffers of becoming the Marie Antoinette of the diplomatic corp.
According to an internal State Department report, Stroum abused the staff and spent excessively on wine and comforts. Four staffers reportedly quit and others are in need of counseling.
Staffers accused Stroum of immediately informing them that she put great “importance [on] the perquisites of” being an ambassador. She demanded a suitable house while the ambassador’s residence was being renovated — a search that consumed the staff and its time. She reportedly flew to Switzerland to hire a proper chef from the leading school in Europe. My favorite, however, was her reported objection to the king-sized bed in the residence. She prefers a queen, so she ordered its replaced. I can understand wanting a big bed, but (if you really like a small bed) couldn’t you just sleep on one side of the bed?
What I really find remarkable is the total absence of criticism of Obama for basically selling diplomatic posts to major donors — a practice that he certainly did not invent but he most certainly has continued. I have long found this practice obscene. I actually respect the amount of charity that Stroum has given and her success in life. However, our ambassadors should come from the State Department where they are trained to represent this country.
Source: Google
Tomdarch,
Well said. I agree that the Ambassador is more ceremonial,but it would be nice if the ambassador wasn’t nuts.
What does Wickileaks have to say? I’ll bet those Luxembourg cables were some of the best.
Understandable the employees needed counseling.
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?&p=alice+in+wonderland+red+queen+quotes&vid=613617434819&dt=1280818800&l=0&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts4.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D613617434819%26id%3D75692e60eb3234129d3e695829bb2148%26bid%3DnUepDbMl%252fcxvVQ%26bn%3DThumb%26url%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.youtube.com%252fwatch%253fv%253dEobuu-IexvI&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2FEobuu-IexvI%26autoplay%3D1&tit=Red+Queen++%3A+OFF++WITH+HIS++HEAD%21++%28Alice++In++Wonder…&sigr=11fb02rop&newfp=1
Instead of excusing bad actions they should be called what they are and protested. If this was an isolated case of incompetence, fire her and move on. But the truth is she is one in a long line, not only of incompetent people, but people whom as frank pointed out, have been appointed to key positions after engaging in torture and financial crimes (to name two). Suleiman, the man we’re backing in Egypt helped the US outsource our renditions and torture there. If you have that many rotten apples in the barrel the man who keeps putting them there should rightfully be held to account for his actions.
Here’s some quotes to consider: 1. “my job, as a journalist, is to hold those in power accountable, not make excuses for their support for dictators” (Jeremy Scahill)
“If there is a democracy, we will not allow our rights to be taken away from us,” Sherine, a university professor,” (woman in Egypt talking to NYTimes)
Look at the difference in attitude. Is it really true nothing can be done in one’s lifetime to oppose wrong doing? Then how are Egyptians managing to demand real democracy from the clutches of a brutal dictator supported by both the US and Israel?
In the US too many people say they are powerless to make our politicians stop abusing our rights, to stop their corruption. This is not true. Egyptians are showing that right now.
This is exactly the sort of silliness we came to expect from the incompetent, self-aggrandizing Bush II administration. It really is a disappointment from the “No drama Obama” administration.
That said, I thought it was “common knowledge” that the Ambassador (technically “Chief of Mission”) per se was an unimportant political appointee, and that the Deputy Chief of Mission (typically a career State Department official) was the real, meaningful representative of the US. In other words, if you want someone to cut a ribbon at the opening of a playground, you invite the Ambassador. If you want to discuss a serious trade dispute, you ask for an appointment with the Deputy Chief. If the Ambassador says something stupid, you call up the Mission (Embassy) and ask for a “clarification.” If the Deputy Chief of Mission says something, you take it as official.
Is it a fairly lousy system? Sure. If we’re going to pick fights to make this a better presidency, is the appointment of ambassadors the fight to pick? Not by a long shot. But reigning in nut jobs certainly is a reasonable expectation.
(This isn’t the first instance of the position (Ambassador to Luxembourg) being far more newsworthy than it should be. During the Clinton administration, James Hormel was appointed to that post. The not-directly-related-to-anything fact that Hormel was openly gay gave several republicans (Trent Lott, Jessee Helms, James Inhofe, John Ashcroft, etc) a perfect opportunity to make asses of themselves. They availed themselves of the opportunity with gusto, including comparing homosexual orientation with being a kleptomaniac.)
Ambassador position aren’t supposed to be elite positions of self-importance, but should be positions where the best of America can be portrayed as well as really being a diplomat to curb any problems that may arise. I would think that the job could be exhausting if you really wanted to make a positive impact. Shame on Obama, once again.
One of things Obama has going for him is that he does not want to send women to the back alleys. The other side is on the march to do so.
frank: ““a practice that he certainly did not invent but he most certainly has continued.”
This will be the epitaph of the Obama administration I’m afraid. ”
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Sadly true.
BWAHH-HAH-HAH-HAAAAAAAH!
Thanks for the real-life levity!
“Ya just can’t make this shit up!”
“such poor management and conduct that embassy staff are in need of emotional counseling.”
“y favorite, however, was her reported objection to the king-sized bed in the residence. She prefers a queen, so she ordered its replaced. I can understand wanting a big bed, but (if you really like a small bed) couldn’t you just sleep on one side of the bed?”
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Ah, you plebeian there JT, don’t you know a princess deserves a bed of her liking. Consider this precedent:
‘Oh terribly bad!’ said the princess. ‘I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!’
They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin.
“a practice that he certainly did not invent but he most certainly has continued.”
This will be the epitaph of the Obama administration I’m afraid. Torture, Iraq, Afghanistan, State secrets, illegal rendition, warrantless wire taps, capitulation to the banksters,appeasement for polluters to name just a few areas the Boy Blunder and his Super Friends pioneered new heights of depravity and the best that can be said about the Obama administration?
“a practice that he certainly did not invent but he most certainly has continued.”
I concur in AY’s description of this ex-ambassador. Swarthmore Mom is correct in suggesting that this practice of naming large donors as ambassadors won’t end until we take the money out of the campaign process. And Citizens United made sure that won’t happen anytime soon!
“Cynthia Stroum, has resigned after an investigation showed such poor management and conduct that embassy staff are in need of emotional counseling.”
That sentence is a PR failure. The two halves of the sentence don’t fit together.
Staff don’t generally don’t need counseling from poor management, they need it from being personally abused and threatened. The lady isn’t Marie Antoinette, in that context, she is Leona Helmsley.
She appears to have no foreign service experience just money. At least it was was only Luxembourg.
puzzling 1, February 8, 2011 at 9:16 am
It sounds like Ambassador Stroum represents us pretty well, actually.
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yup!
You say that she reported only brought in $500,000 but the costs of her salary, move, expenses etc. must have be comparable.
People should be promoted to ambassador from inside the foreign service. They seem to take it seriously.
Roosevelt named the “bootlegging” Joseph Kennedy ambassador to England in 1938.
It sounds like Ambassador Stroum represents us pretty well, actually.
It seems to be common practice to do this. Reagan did it. Clinton did it. Bush appointed many wealthy Dallasites to ambassadorships. Ambassadors have traditionally been wealthy citizens. The only way to get rid of this practice is to adopt campaign finance reform. Probably won’t happen in my lifetime.
I could think of 5 letters to describe the conduct of this Marie wanna be….
“Cynthia Stroum, has resigned after an investigation showed such poor management and conduct that embassy staff are in need of emotional counseling.”