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Why doesn't the United States appoint career diplomats as ambassadors, as many other countries do?

9 Comments

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9 Comments
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Because it's a spoils system job and not a merit-based position.

All they do is go to photo-ops, lunches, dinners and receptions and give short speeches written by other people at the Tokyo-American club. They are told what to say and what not to say by the CIA people and underlings. It's a trained monkey job.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

because they don't care

6 ( +8 / -2 )

I admit I have never understood why the US does that, I understand it’s a sort of semi acceptable corruption, paying off donors and political allies without money being involved, but why is it thought acceptable? It does little for the US image and all too often neither do these unprofessional appointees.

It smacks of a certain complacency and even contempt for the countries so treated.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Most of the posts are ceremonial, as evidenced by the fact that there has been no ambassador to Japan since July 2019 when Hagerty quit to run for the Senate. So, no ambassador for over 2 years and yet US-Japan relations are still chugging along.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

They should at least select language ability people for these jobs.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

USA is a very corrupt country where doners and well connected to the party takes precedence over the most qualified for the position.

It happens everywhere even in companies where at times friends and family members get jobs and also the 'yes-men' get promotions. You speak the truth, you are out of the company.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

they have to pay back the secret donors some how

0 ( +0 / -0 )

MOST ambassadors are career diplomats and sail through confirmation hearings with barely a nod. It’s the political appointments that draw all the headlines.

Up until the Orange one, about 30% of ambassadors were political with 70% career. The Orange one raised it to about 45% political.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Unlike past do-nothing professional diplomats washing up Japan's shores, with the arrival of new U.S. ambassador, Japan is on the threshold of fundamentally transforming so it can better align itself with a one-Japan-for-all-native-Japanese societal direction. It will prove to be much better place for all those who are born, raised and most importantly schooled in the Japanese education system. For the non-Japanese interlopers, not so much.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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