Praise for Obama's new ambassador to the UK from Glenn Greenwald's paper

[geek tragedy]

Some people were acting as if Barzun's appointment was some kind of massive scandal because he raised money for Obama. Turns out he's a highly qualified nominee with quite a bit of heft. Whoddathunkit?

Roll the tape:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/10/matthew-barzun-us-ambassador-britain-obama

However, this tradition contrasts with the spirit of innovative thinking and tenacious hard work in the west wing of Obama's White House. The key staff in this White House tend not be DC careerists. They are often young, technology-savvy and entrepreneurial. With the nomination of Barzun, President Obama has deployed one of this new generation of power players to London.


During the four years I spent at the state department serving secretary of state Hilary Clinton, I personally helped to train more than 150 of America's ambassadors. Some were brilliant. Some less so. Seeing him among his peers, I got a good view of Barzun as ambassador-in-training, as a political actor in Washington, and then during his successful posting as ambassador to Sweden.


Like most politically appointed ambassadors, Barzun raised election funds for the president, but the tag "fundraiser" does not describe him well. He is certainly well-connected among political and economic elites. But more than that, he is a trusted strategic adviser and a highly accomplished professional. He started his career in Silicon Valley during the heyday of the dotcom boom of the 1990s. That launched his career as an entrepreneur.

So, how does this portend for the US/UK relationship:

Today is a good day for the transatlantic relationship with the nomination of Barack Obama's trusted adviser Matthew Barzun as America's ambassador to the Court of St James. Obama's second presidential term got off to a good start for the bilateral relationship with the appointment of committed Atlanticists Chuck Hagel and John Kerry to America's top defence and diplomatic posts. The first international destination for every new secretary of state is heavily debated in Washington, and Kerry's as America's top diplomat was London.


It is with the nomination of Barzun, however, that the Obama administration has signalled most clearly that the UK-US relationship remains central to the Obama administration's strategic vision in the president's second term.

Another fake-ass scandal from the usual suspects.

[Enrique]

1. wow it turns out a member of Obama's administration supports an Obama appointment!

whodathunk!

[geek tragedy]

2. Former member of the administration. Hence the ability to work with Barzun and provide

actual information and insight.

But, you can stick with the DU ignoramuses complaining about the pick if you want. At least they're not accomplished enough to have an informed opinion, right?

[Bluenorthwest]

3. I don't have any idea how qualified Barzun might be, but this piece does not help that

don't know what exactly he has done in the past still, and this piece is not by a Guardian editor, it is a guest opinion from an American political professional direct from his own WH job. Promoting this as being what the Guardian or even a Brit has to say is not exactly honest. Barzun might be great, this sheds no actual light on his excellence or on how he is seen by the Brits.
I hope he is great, I love the UK and for anyone getting this appointment, living up to the surroundings and history of the post is no small thing no matter who you are.

[geek tragedy]

4. Do you think Alec Ross is careless

with his praise?

The Guardian published a story implying that Barzun was an unqualified schlub who bought his position.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. I don't know if Ross is careless, he is certainly biased but my point was that to say this is

praise for Barzun 'from' the Guardian is not what I call fully honest. Ross is American, an Obama administration figure. I understand this was in the Guardian, but it is not 'from' them, this praise is from an American Obama ally in the Guardian.
To be blunt, the headline was a cheat, and I had hoped to actually be reading that the Guardian had praise for Barzun. That was not the case. As it turned out.

[Enrique]

5. the part of the OP I agree with

is that an association with Glenn Greenwald is a boost to anyone's credibility.

I also don't know much about Barzun, and I think the appearance of awarding ambassadorships as payoffs for something or other is not great, but it has little consequence imho.

[Cha]

9. Yeah, I'm sure that's all you did get out of the article.. except you're

wrong again.

[BeyondGeography]

6. Grandson of Jacques Barzun, 1907-2012

Author of From Dawn to Decadence. Re. modern times:

"The forms of art as of life seem exhausted, the stages of development have been run through. Institutions function painfully. Repetition and frustration are the intolerable result. Boredom and fatigue are great historical forces."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/mar/03/history.art

Died about a month shy of his 105th birthday.

[burnodo]

7. Greenwald owns the Guardian??

Who knew!

[Cha]

11. No, but I bet this chaps his Obama hatin' ass.

[burnodo]

14. and why do you think that?

?

[Cha]

10. I knew the new Amb would be good at his job before reading this. PBO

doesn't choose people who would suck just because they donated a lot of money to his campaign.

Interesting.. thank you for the article, geek

"The 42-year-old Barzun carries the influence of that time in his leadership style and forward-leaning approach to diplomacy. He does not accept problems as fixed and unalterable. He has the Silicon Valley ethos of testing assumptions and formulating new approaches to addressing longstanding challenges.

Matthew Barzun is also an intellectual. Anyone who spends real time with him will note the strong influence of his grandfather, Jacques Barzun, who died last year at the age of 104 after a career as one of America's most distinguished historians, writing more than 40 volumes of wide-ranging cultural history. A framed Time Magazine cover of Jacques Barzun hung on the wall of his ambassadorial office in Stockholm alongside the magna cum laude degree from Harvard that preceded the younger Barzun's move to internet entrepreneurship

With the nomination of Matthew Barzun, the United Kingdom does not just get a US ambassador, it gets an Obama ambassador. In the vernacular of Barzun's Kentucky, it gets a big dog that can hunt in the tall grass."

Good to know!

[GeorgeGist]

12. Puff Piece.

[geek tragedy]

13. From someone with infinitely more expertise than anyone you can quote

on the subject. Sorry your little pout parade got rained on by facts.