Perhaps This Job Ad Was Written With a Candidate in Mind?

Are you opposed to nuclear proliferation? Are you a current or maybe former civil servant eligible for the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program? Then hurry up and apply for the great job of "Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation."

It's not full time but "intermittent," the official job posting says, so you can do other gigs, but it nonetheless pays up to $143,471 a year. You'll be working in the Office of the Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security at the State Department.

Hurry! The application period just started Wednesday and closes at midnight on Tuesday.

In addition to the usual educational requirements and several years' experience in the field, you'll need to have "specialized experience," including a "comprehensive knowledge of U.S. foreign policy relating to nuclear nonproliferation" and an "ability to establish liaison at all levels throughout the foreign policy and intelligence communities to exchange vital information." Couldn't be more than a handful of people, if that many, who can meet all those criteria.

You'd be working in the office that was headed by former Pentagon civil servant and recent political appointee Robert G. Joseph, who just left the undersecretary job at State suggesting publicly that the North Korea nuke deal was immoral.

He's now a senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy. Its Web site says "he also serves as U.S. Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation."

Oh. Guess it's already filled. Never mind.

Peligro, Politicos: Watch Your Language

Time once again to remind everyone to be careful sucking up to ethnic constituencies in a foreign language. Politicians love to use "the native tongue" because, when it's done right, the crowd goes wild. See, for example, President Ronald Reagan in Miami in 1983 chanting "Cuba sí, Castro no."

Even when botched, the audience, unless they are French, will give you points for trying. But sometimes it's an unmitigated disaster, as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney found out recently speaking to Cuban Americans in Miami. "Hugo Chavez has tried to steal an inspiring phrase," Romney said, continuing in the Spanish for "Fatherland or death, we will win": " 'Patria o muerte, venceremos.' It does not belong to him. It belongs to a free Cuba."

No, it's Fidel Castro's trademark closer, the slogan of the Commie revolution. Here's how the Boston Herald described the moment: "Cubans in Miami are steaming mad at former Gov. Mitt Romney for shooting his mouth off in stumbling Spanish, mispronouncing names and erroneously associating a notorious Fidel Castro-spewed Communist catch phrase with freedom fighters." Observers wondered whether Romney is actually ready for prime time.

Or take a Republican National Committee online criticism last month of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), noting she had a lot of "political baggage," translated into Spanish as "bagaje politico."

The Capitol Standard, a weekly online publication focused on Hispanic issues, promptly rejoined that "bagaje" means someone who has "a great wealth of knowledge and extraordinary grasp of a particular issue." Precisely what the RNC would not want to say.

So how do you say "political baggage" in Spanish? One of the Capitol Standard folks noted there is no direct translation but suggested saying Clinton has a "trayectoria política llena de controversia."

That's okay, but a bit cumbersome. Our preference would be "lastre político." Since "lastre" can mean "burden" or "dead weight," it's got a negative aspect.

In any event, be careful out there.

Worth Learning to Spell

Intelligence, yes. Spelling, no. We got this lovely invitation from the director of national intelligence and the chairmen and ranking Republican members of the Senate and House intelligence committees to a reception last night -- we couldn't make it -- in the Capitol.

The House committee's ranking Republican was listed as Michigan's Peter Hoesktra. (See the problem? Try pronouncing it.) That's "Hoekstra."

Who to Hire for a German Jew? Maybe Nazi Fans?

This just in from Religion News Service: "German politicians and religious leaders are trying to figure out how three bodyguards with alleged Nazi sympathies ended up as bodyguards for the former head of Germany's Central Council of Jews."

A 'Special' Résumé, but He Can't Take It With Him

Former 11-term congressman James V. Hansen (R-Utah), former Farmington City Council member and speaker of the Utah House, always stood a head above most lawmakers.

So it seemed only fitting that the Farmington council would accede to his request that his gravestone be eight inches taller than the 36-inch maximum for those of average folks in the city cemetery.

Hansen, 74, had requested that the council revise the ordinance to allow more stately monuments for some people. The mayor, according to news reports, said the marker height was set to prevent interference with the sprinklers. Hansen offered to pay to relocate them.

But on Tuesday, just before a council meeting that night, Hansen, blaming "adverse publicity created by the media," withdrew his request.

He declined to comment, the Deseret Morning News reported. "This is a private affair," the paper quoted him as saying. "I've had 42 years of crap from the press. Therefore, I don't want to discuss it."

In his request, Hansen wrote: "I do not consider myself in any way special over any other citizen, but some of the positions I have held apparently are considered special by many people." Maybe not that special.