Envoy Envy? Dust Off That Portfolio.

By Al Kamen
Thursday, December 4, 2008

Ladies and gentlemen! Start your lobbying engines -- it may already be too late -- for that cushy ambassadorship you've always dreamed of. The incoming Obama administration has helpfully notified all politically appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office.

We're hearing that some Obama backers have already been working on picking up plum assignments in about 50 fine locations, including Rome, Paris, London, Tokyo and the like. There are about 160 country ambassadorships, and historically about 30 percent of them go to political appointees -- early campaign supporters, fat-cat contributors, pals and such -- and the rest to career Foreign Service types.

The eviction notice, a fairly routine action, was sent to diplomatic posts last week, our colleague Glenn Kessler reports. Sometimes political ambassadors are permitted to stay on a bit in an incoming administration, but the sweeping nature of the directive suggests that Obama has little interest in keeping on many of President Bush's ambassadorial appointees.

This would be bad news for some folks who just arrived in their new digs. Kristen Silverberg, for example, who's now ambassador to the European Union in Brussels, took over the job in July. Barely time to unpack.

This is not to say that the political ambassadorships are by definition unimportant or all fun and games. Political ambassadors often do some heavy diplomatic lifting in places like Japan, France, China and Saudi Arabia.

But you must move quickly. We're already hearing talk, for example, that mega-wealthy John Thornton, former Goldman Sachs president and co-COO, has just resigned as a director of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, citing "other business commitments," and may be eyeing an ambassadorship to the Middle Kingdom.

Of course, the vetting for a guy who's been a director of a major Chi-Com bank could present a few problems for the FBI, but . . .

Restoring Our Confidence

Speaking of foreign travel, U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief Thomas J. Donohue is off on a four-day trip to Europe to represent American business at the G-8 Business Summit in Paris. "I'm heading to Europe to underscore the importance of business leaders working together to restore investor and consumer confidence in order to jumpstart the global economy," he said in a news release issued by the Chamber. The goal of the meeting with the E.U. folks, we were told, "is to develop joint recommendations for dealing with the global economic crisis and financial regulatory reform." This seems something of a shift here for Donohue, whose general idea of reform is to get rid of those always onerous and burdensome regulations. Donohue was scheduled to stop in Brussels along the way so Belgium's Crown Prince Philippe could give him the "Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Couronne medal" for working to expand ties between us and the Belgians. We always wanted to be a "commandeur."

Building His 'Team'

Obama may be taking this "Team of Rivals" business a bit too seriously. Yesterday, he reached once more into the well of the vanquished and tapped New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- another candidate he beat for the nomination -- to be in his Cabinet. He's already got Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton set to be secretary of state and Sen. Joe Biden as vice president.

Sen. Chris Dodd is a bit busy these days dealing with the financial meltdown from his perch on the Senate Banking Committee. Rep. Dennis Kucinich might be a stretch.

But wait! There's former senator John Edwards. He may be available.

Playing Hard to Get?

Obama tried to reach across the partisan divide twice yesterday with a phone call to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, our colleague Anne E. Kornblut reports.

And twice, according to her office, she hung up on him.

She "thought it was a hoax," an aide to the congresswoman said.

In a series of phone-slammings that appear to have taken up much of the afternoon, Ros-Lehtinen first received a call on her cellphone, from a Chicago phone number, and was informed by the caller that Obama wished to speak with her. When a man sounding like Obama got on the line, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off, saying, "I'm sorry, but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks." She then hung up, according to a statement issued by her office.

A little while later, chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel called the congresswoman back.

"Ileana, I cannot believe that you hung up on the president-elect," Emanuel said, according to the congresswoman's office.

Her response?

"Ros-Lehtinen told Rahm that she didn't believe the call was legitimate and hung up on Emanuel," her statement said.

Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and someone Ros-Lehtinen knows well, sought to intervene, calling and telling her he "needed to speak with her urgently." She got on the line -- but demanded that Berman recount a story "only both of them would know," which the congressman did.

He then told her "that she had, indeed, hung up on the president-elect," according to her office statement.

Finally, when Obama called a third time, she took the call.

"He told her, 'It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me,' " and she explained her problems with local radio stations, her statement said. "Obama told her that in Chicago they also have prank calls. Ileana told Obama that 'you are either very gracious to reach out in such a bipartisan manner or had run out of folks to call if you are truly calling me and "Saturday Night Live" could use a good Obama impersonator like you.' "

She went on to congratulate him for his victory and urged him to work with allies on Cuba and Israel, two of her top issues.

If only Sarah Palin had been so careful.

No Pay Raise for Clinton?

Looks like the "Saxbe Fix" is in. Congress appears set to circumvent the "emoluments clause" of the Constitution and allow Clinton to be secretary of state. The clause, as we noted two weeks ago, says that no member of Congress shall be named to any office "the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during his term." This applies, we're advised, whether the member actually voted on the raises or not. Clinton was in the Senate when Cabinet officers recently received a pay raise.

The Senate is working on a bill reducing the pay for secretary of state to where it was before the raise. (The most famous instance, in 1973, reduced the pay for attorney general so Sen. William Saxbe (R-Ohio) could take the job.)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that she'd go along. "There is precedent for how to address this issue and Congress will act if necessary," Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly told Talking Points Memo.

Well, there may be precedent, but the Constitution could not be clearer.

Moving In

Just two days after being named national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones -- who we wrongly demoted yesterday to major -- is assembling his top staff. He is said to have tapped three foreign policy minds to serve as senior deputies: Mark W. Lippert, an Iraq war veteran and senior foreign policy adviser to Obama; Denis McDonough, a former Capitol Hill aide who was a foreign policy adviser to Obama and helped plan the candidate's foreign trip during the summer; and Rexon Y. Ryu, senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.).

Correction

A chart yesterday should have noted that incoming White House counsel Gregory Craig and economic recovery board staff director Austen Goolsbee worked on the Obama campaign.

With Philip Rucker