Modern US diplomacy
“So you wanted to be an ambassador? Gave early and often and raised a bunch more for the Bush campaign so you’d get a nice posting? And now they say you can’t fly first class? Even if you pay for it yourself? Even on a 20-hour flight to Asia?,” writes Al Kamen in the Washington Post.
“That seems to be the case. There’s a Bill Clinton executive order prohibiting ambassadors from sitting in the front of the plane, the new Bush candidates are now discovering. The idea was that first class would be seen as arrogant. Upgrades, using miles or cash, were not permitted, though violations were said to have oft-occurred.
“We could be talking about the cheap seats for some folks who probably have never seen the coach section — or even a commercial flight.
“Even more shocking, ambassadors-in-waiting, now rotating through the State Department’s “charm school” to learn about their jobs, are being told they must hold a news conference immediately upon arrival in their new assignments. This means smiling and standing tall on legs that won’t straighten for hours.
“But wait. It gets even worse. While the general impression is that ambassadorial instruction focuses on protocol niceties and service settings, nary a knife or a teacup is so much as mentioned these days. A key focus is on the ambassadors’ responsibility for security: evacuation plans, terrorism and counterterrorism, protection of US lives and secrets. This is an increasing component since the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
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The Clinton rule
US News & World reporter Paul Bedard notes that “ex-President Clinton has done it again: left another rotten potato for his successor. This one is known as Executive Order 13166, signed last fall with little notice. Its swell-sounding goal is to provide interpreters for immigrants seeking federal help.”
Eventually, it may require anyone getting federal dollars to have translators at the ready. Highway departments may have to stop using English on road signs, and switch to European-style symbols, doctors may have to hire translators to sit in offices to handle new patients.
“The long arm of Clinton is still reaching out,” says Rep. Ernest Istook, Oklahoma Republican. He pressed a surprised White House on the issue in hearings last week, claiming the rule is burdensome and potentially expensive.
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Too exhausted to explain
Embattled former Sen. Bob Kerrey has faced down a new round of attacks. Sen. Kerrey met with 215 graduate students at the New School University, where he is now president, to discuss the charges that he led a raid on unarmed Vietnam civilians in 1969 that left 21 dead.
“Look at my record. I don’t think you will find that I am yellow-dog, imperialist scum,” he told them in a “sometimes contentious meeting,” according to the New York Daily News.
“If somebody else, Congress or the Navy wants the investigation, I will do it,” the Medal of Honor winner said. “But I don’t see the need to call for one.”
week, graduate students passed a resolution saying his justification for killing civilians was at odds with the Greenwich Village school’s mission. Sen. Kerrey called the accounts of the incidents flawed, refused to resign from his university post, and said, “I don’t wish to argue with them.”
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Gore gathers what Clinton loses
Former President Bill Clinton is getting slimmer, according to the American Spectator.
“Aides to former President Bill Clinton, who has returned from Asia, say that since leaving office he’s dropped about 20 pounds. “He’s had to buy new dress shirts, his neck has gotten so thin,” a former aide said.
“So how did he do it? Is it because Hillary is a great cook, and because she’s not around he’s just not eating all the homey comfort food she dishes up? ‘No,” was the terse reply.
“Or perhaps it’s some weird evil voodoo thing Clinton’s got going with Al Gore, losing the pounds that Al has put on since the Bush inauguration? ‘No,’ was again the reply from the former aide.
