Ryan Crocker

In response to yesterday's post on the likely political appointees in a McCain administration, Nathaniel comments:

Matt I would point out that Ryan Crocker is a Foreign Service officer not a political appointee. He served as Amabsssador in some pretty harsh posts before Bush came into office and less he chooses to retire, which he may due to the length of his service, he will be serving as an Ambassador in whatever adminstration is after Bush.

Very fair points. Still, I think the overall point stands. It's reasonable to believe that many of the people who've served in noteworthy positions in the Bush administration would also serve in noteworthy positions in a McCain administration. And it would be interested to know what McCain's thoughts on that matter are in a more specific way. Like most administrations, Team Bush has had its share of feuds and so forth. An incoming Republican administration that wants to bring back Richard Armitage is something you'd look at very differently from an incoming GOP administration that wants to bring back Doug Feith.

Comments

One would assume that bringing back Armitage would be looked at as worse than bringing back Feith, considering Armitage was the one who leaked Valerie Plame's identity to the press and all. I doubt that's how MY sees it, however.

Posted by A New Fox News Fan | June 6, 2008 12:12 PM

Matt, I think an even more interesting question would get to the point your reader was trying to make: are there any key Bush figures who might play a role in an Obama Administration? In my mind, there are two categories: career folks, like Crocker, whose non-partisan service record means they may (or may not) serve in the next administration; and potential political carryovers.

In terms of the latter category, we may think it unlikely, but remember that Bush brought on Robert Matsui, who served under Clinton, to demonstrate bipartisanship, and Clinton had Cohen as his SecDef. Is there anyone in the current administration who Obama might keep? Robert Gates, who was a career civil servant (albeit in the CIA) before joining Bush I may certainly be a possibility, though that would continue the unfortunate tradition of Dem Presidents appearing to be unable to find Dem SecDefs.

A separate but related question is whether Republicans not in the Bush Administration will serve in an Obama Administration. Given Obama's apparently sincere efforts to build a new coalition that includes Republicans, it's worthwhile to ask who those folks would be.

Posted by Charlie | June 6, 2008 12:47 PM

Crocker, on Iran/USSR comparison:

"The Soviet Union was a formidable force at its height, with a massive nuclear arsenal. It had half of Europe locked up in its grasp. Iran simply does not carry anything remotely like that weight, not internationally, not even regionally."'

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/newsfeatures/2008/0524/1211522099936.html

Joe Lieberman on Obama:

"I was troubled earlier in the year during the campaign season when Senator Obama referred to, I guess compared Iran and other rogue and terrorists states to the Soviet Union and minimized the threat represented by Iran. I think that is wrong"

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/06/obama-confronts.html

Just sayin'.

Posted by James | June 6, 2008 1:41 PM

Matt - you were actually more correct than your commenter. Ryan Crocker is a career foreign service officer and holds the foreign service "rank" of "career ambassador," but he serves as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq as a political appointee (see Bush's announcement of his nomination). All U.S. ambassadors are political appointees. Some are drawn from the ranks of career foreign service officers, some aren't, but all must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. You can see the current breakdown at the State Department website (with a key for deciphering the codes at the bottom of the first page of the document). As you probably know, most of the non-career ambassadors serve in high profile (e.g. China, India) or pretty cushy posts (e.g. Bahamas, St. Lucia). And most of the high profile and non-career ambassadors are replaced when a new administration comes in -- even a new administration of the same party (see this New York Times story for a view of the process between the Reagan and Bush I presidencies).

Posted by Glen | June 6, 2008 2:05 PM

Matt - you were actually more correct than your commenter. Ryan Crocker is a career foreign service officer and holds the foreign service "rank" of "career ambassador," but he serves as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq as a political appointee (see Bush's announcement of his nomination). All U.S. ambassadors are political appointees. Some are drawn from the ranks of career foreign service officers, some aren't, but all must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. You can see the current breakdown between career and non-career ambassadors at the State Department website (with a key for deciphering the codes at the bottom of the first page of the document). As you probably know, most of the non-career ambassadors serve in high profile (e.g. China, India) or pretty cushy posts (e.g. Bahamas, St. Lucia). And most of the high profile and non-career ambassadors are replaced when a new administration comes in -- even a new administration of the same party (see this New York Times story for a view of the process between the Reagan and Bush I presidencies).

Posted by Glen | June 6, 2008 2:12 PM

It would be a shame to lose the skills of Ryan Crocker who, no matter who he was appointed by, is a genuine expert on the Middle East and a non-partisan pro. Feith, not so much.

Armitage, however, is a good guy who was clearly set up. His "leak" was innocuous gossip he thought, reasonably, non-sensitive as he'd seen Plame named in public memos chairing meetings, something that has never happened with a covert employee. The rest was all partisan hysteria and yellow journalism.

Posted by robert powell | June 6, 2008 3:31 PM

You're a fucking liar, Powell.

There was nothing "innocuous" about the Plame leak. It was done to shut down her counter-proliferation group for the benefit of scum like Marc Rich and the crowd Sibel Edmonds has fingered as traitors to the US. That crap about "nepotism" was just the cover story.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | June 7, 2008 5:34 AM

The guy who has led the Bush administration diplomatic efforts in Pakistan and now Iraq is a career foreign service officer, and Matt, who claims to be an expert on foreign policy, doesn't know this. Matt, did you think he was a neo-con? This is funny.

And, yes, the original point remains. But don't trust Matt to evaluate any nomination, since he doesn't know anything about the subject.

Posted by Thomas | June 7, 2008 10:36 AM