An ambassador who speaks the language!

President Obama reached across the political divide Saturday and named Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a potential Republican presidential contender in 2012, to the sensitive diplomatic post of U.S. ambassador to China. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese from his days as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan...

Let's put that in a larger size and bold font:

An ambassador who speaks the relevant language!!!

I'm sure through history there have been some ambassadors to France who spoke French. But my sense is that the majority of ambassadorships (from all presidents) have been paybacks to campaign contributors, and often went to people who were clueless about the problems of their destination countries. I know nothing else about this man; perhaps he's faulty in some other way, but on this single criterion of sending an ambassador to China who speaks Mandarin Chinese, my heartfelt congratulations on the choice.

Addendum: A little more research led me to a list of past U.S. ambassadors to China, and checking their biographies I note that J. Stapleton Roy (1991-1995) was born in China and spoke the language fluently, James R. Lilley (1989-91) was also born in China and was fluent, Winston Lord (1985-89) spoke some Chinese, and Arthur Hummel (1981-85) was also born in China.

I guess the enthusiasm of my post reflects my naivete about this aspect of foreign policy.

Second addendum: The strictly political motivation behind the choice of Huntsman tracks back to the last presidential election, when the traditional Christian base of the Republican party rejected Mitt Romney because of his Mormonism:

Mitt Romney is technically the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. He's got the money, a national organization, and the on-camera talent and political experience to handle the national spotlight. Ideologically, his positions line up pretty perfectly with the conservative GOP platform. If any Republican "deserves" it for having paid his dues loyally to the party, it's Mitt. And yet it's extremely unlikely that the said GOP base - we're talking mainly white Southern Baptists here - is going to get over its Mormonphobia in just three years enough to make that possible.

The appointment of Huntsman is thus, politically, a slam dunk. When GOP primary voters inevitably reject Romney once again in the 2012 primaries and caucuses outside of the Mountain West, the resentment - already boiling after last year's adventures in presidential politics - among rank-and-file Mormons that the party to whom they've given so much still doesn't really want them in the Master's house rather than the servant's quarters, will sting. Meanwhile, another of their prominent citizens will likely still be Obama's man in Beijing, proof that somebody in American politics isn't dissing the LDS and its members. And in key swing states like Nevada and Colorado, LDS members are legion.

Via Andrew Sullivan.