Price for the US ambassador position in Poland? $2,300.00

America apparently has a long tradition of awarding many ambassadorships to friends and political donors of the sitting president rather than drawing on the top talent from its diplomatic corps.

A recent academic paper put a dollar figure on what it cost to get the top job at several US embassies around the world in 2011:

econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_234.pdf

Here are just some mentioned in the study who were rewarded with an ambassador spot for donating to Obama's first presidential campaign:


Poles and other people outside the US should be more wary than ever when they see some US ambassador attending an event or giving an interview to the national media in their assigned country. Most of these Americans are there simply to coincide a personal holiday while getting their names in a history book somewhere. They don't take their position seriously and neither should anyone else in the countries they are posted to.

So you think that when they pay large amount of $$, it makes them good ambassadors? And what exactly should I be weary of?

Cash-for-ambassadorships smacks of corruption no matter how much or how little they dole out. It says these ambassadors don't need to have any knowledge, experience or relevancy to the countries they are being sent to. If Poland enters into a discussion with a US ambassador are they even being listened to in the first place let alone understood? If not then it is a waste of time.

If Poland assumes they can deal with a US ambassador based on professionalism and trust is there really going to be mutual benefit or will Poland agree to something only to end up with the short end of the stick if not left out to dry if things go awry?

These clowns are just being rewarded for signing a cheque. People would associate this sort of behavior with a third world banana republic and not a country which goes around the world trying to hold others to account.

America is a spent force in the world and Poland should not take for granted that the America they are dealing with today is the same as the one from generations ago.

You don't really think they appointed someone as ambassador simply because he'd given a small donation to an election campaign.

If $2,300 gets you an ambassadorship, sign me up. A senior official makes well over $100,000 a year. I think you have to be both friendly with the POTUS i.e. a campaign contributor as well as a know a bit about foreign service. While some ambassadors are a bit on the dim side, I don't think they'll take just anybody with a few thousand extra bucks lying around :)

jobshadow.com/interview-with-a-us-ambassador/

Let them enjoy their fantasies.

It never crosses their minds that in the US, there are millions of individuals who donate to campaigns. Obviously, people who care about campaigns are interested in government, politics, social issues, foreign affairs and public policy. People interested in these things are often already working for the government, academia, international business, etc. So, I would be more curious as to how many ambassadors did NOT contribute to one or the other campaign.

An Ambassador makes a decent salary ($150-200K) and the job includes housing, child education, transportation (for the family), great vacation options, drivers, household staff, security and an entertainment budget. Often you meet interesting people but sometimes you have to introduce your wife to a criminal with a straight face.

In this case the size of donation is more reflective of how quickly he had to announce his resignation. The caliber of a diplomat is not measured by the size of his wallet and rewords bestowed upon him by currently residing administration. Having political backing is one thing but you still have to be a diplomat enough not to create frictions. So sudden announcement without a reason given after so little time served makes you wonder indeed what was his blunder not to be resolved any other way short of resignation.

Surely 2,300 woulda got him somewhere warmer?

I imagine there’s quite a few, they are usually recruited from a professional diplomatic core serving a term of 3 years and then we have those like Lee Feinstein who are solely recruited from the political camp of residing administration, a term of 4 or more years depending on how long his backer is capable of hanging on to the most desired address in US.


Israel perhaps, or is this post too delicate for someone of his caliber.

hahahaha ;)