White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Wednesday that Democratic Party donors hoping to secure an ambassadorship under the new administration are losing their patience.
Asked about the timing of President Biden’s nominations for plum overseas posts, Psaki said, “This is a popular question, including from some people who want to be ambassadors.”
She added, “Historically, the timeline has been around the spring.” The first day of spring this year is March 20.
President Barack Obama began nominating ambassadors in March of his first term.
After intense jockeying, the posts come stuffed with perks.
New ambassadors move into lavish digs, with a full staff and the expectation they will host frequent parties.
Names already floated include Cindy McCain, Jeff Flake, and Rahm Emanuel.
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But Biden is under scrutiny as he moves to prioritize relationships with foreign allies, shifting away from former President Donald Trump’s doctrine of “America First.”
For donors, the concern is the president will appoint diplomatic professionals to do his bidding in prize cities such as London or Paris.
Irked by the slow pace, some backers have railed anonymously against the new administration’s failure to return their favor.
“It’s bulls—,” a Democratic fundraiser told the Daily Beast. “The number of asks over the course of the campaign, and over the course of the transition, and let’s not even talk about the Zoom [Democratic National] Convention, and they can’t even remember to make a phone call to the people who kept the lights on.”
The donor-to-embassy pipeline has come under fire from critics who say that it prioritizes domestic political considerations over the country’s foreign policy interests.
“Nobody likes to see ambassadorships sold,” Dennis Jett, a retired ambassador, career foreign service officer, and the author of a book, American Ambassadors, told the Washington Examiner in an earlier interview.
“It’s a thinly veiled form of corruption that causes people to look at the swamp and wish it was green,” he added.
Career diplomats have urged Biden to draw from the State Department’s ranks for top appointees instead of leaning on political backers or well-connected operatives.
Biden’s picks for deputy secretary of state and undersecretary of state for political affairs paint a disappointing precedent, some say, despite assurances from the State Department that “respected career officials [will] assume some of the most senior positions in this building.”
Both have advised the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global consulting firm, staffed by former senior diplomats, with clients that have policy interests before the federal government.
Biden’s financial backers may have broken through.
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One State Department source told Business Insider that career staffers were “being frozen out,” at least until the White House determines “the number” or how many posts will first go to political appointees.
