The Senkaku Islands and
Chinese irredentism. . . Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and the prospects for political stability under the resurgent Liberal Democratic Party . . . the influence
of the New Komeito and other small parties on the volatility of Diet majorities
. . . the viability of the Peace Clause
of Article IX in an era of Kim Jong Un, North
Korean lunacy, and Chinese chauvinism . . . prospects for expanding the mission
and resources of the Japanese Self Defense Force in the face of looming
military threats across the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan . . . Kadena,
Futenma, Yokosuka, Sasebo, Iwakuni, Yokota, and the long-term viability of the
profusion of U.S. bases in Mainland Japan and Okinawa. . . Yen devaluation and the aggressive
stimulative monetary policy of the Bank of Japan.
Prime MinisterAbe
These are merely some of the critical issues involving current
U.S. relations with Japan, America's foremost ally in East Asia and the Pacific
and still one of the essential lynchpins to international economic stability
and regional security in East Asia.
These issues are all familiar to government and academic experts on
Japan and East Asia, and even to dilettantes in that realm.
But one somehow doubts that a Triple A-List New York
socialite and pampered Kennedy Family Princess has torn herself away from
the fashionable distractions of SoHo and Martha's Vineyard even to notice, let
alone comprehend, the esoteric concerns of a remote and inscrutable Japan.
The Ambassador Presumptive
And yet, we now learn that Caroline Kennedy, one of the
last recognizable relics of Camelot, is to be nominated as Ambassador to
Japan. How very curious and incongruous.
Apart from her iconic name and her prominence as a
financial and political supporter of Mr. Obama, there is not the slightest hint
in Ms. Kennedy's experience or accomplishments, such as they are, to even
remotely associate her with a critical diplomatic post in Japan. As far as the record shows, she seems
entirely innocent of any academic or professional interest in East Asia, let
alone Japan. True, she is a highly
sophisticated lady, and once took an advanced art course at Sotheby's in London
and worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which might at least have
introduced her to the woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige. But that is a far cry from grasping the
complex and subtle history and culture of the Land of Yamato.
If Ms. Kennedy knows Tokugawa Ieyasu from Toshiro Mifune,
I would be very much surprised.
It is true, of course, that ambassadorships are commonly
awarded to relatively unqualified financial contributors and supporters of the
president, but there are at least minimal limits even on this unseemly but
accepted practice. An ambassadorial appointment
of someone who lacks all plausible credentials connected to the
receiving country seems especially inappropriate in the case of so prominent a
country as Japan -- and at a time when issues relating to that country are
especially pressing and sensitive.
Although many prior appointments of Ambassadors to Japan
have been clearly political in character, those appointees have generally been
quite well qualified either by prior experience in government posts of the
highest responsibility, or in foreign relations matters in general, or Japanese
affairs in particular. Ms. Kennedy's
undoubted glamor and celebrity, however appealing to the fawning media, falls
far short of that mark.
President Kennedy selected Edwin Reischauer, one of his cadre
of Harvard faculty supporters, for the post, but Reischauer was a distinguished
and accomplished scholar on Japanese and East Asian affairs. Senator Mike Mansfield, whose status as a
Democratic Senate Majority Leader gave him the best possible political
connections for his appointment by Jimmy Carter, also had strong credentials as
a student and professor of East Asian affairs, had served on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, and would have qualified for the position independent of
his senatorial connections. The first
President Bush's appointee to the post was Michael Armacost, a government and
academic expert on East Asia who, like Reischauer, was fluent in
Japanese and highly experienced in national security and foreign affairs. Other prominent political appointees to the
Tokyo post include Vice President Walter Mondale, Senate Majority Leader and
White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker, and House Minority Leader Thomas
Foley. Their extensive experience in the
most senior government positions -- positions requiring both strong diplomatic skills and general foreign affairs
knowledge -- more than adequately offset their lack of particular expertise on
Japan.
Ms. Kennedy has earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School, has
written a number of books, and presumably has an engaging personality --
credentials which qualify her to be an associate in a good New York law firm, or
perhaps an Assistant U.S. Attorney, but hardly for appointment to a preeminent
ambassadorship. She has also been active
in supporting and giving money to successful political candidates like Obama,
and was once seriously considered for appointment to the U.S. Senate to
complete the term of the departing Hilary Clinton. Unfortunately,
the confluence of her celebrity and political largesse with her consideration
for a senate appointment tell us more about the sorry state of contemporary
political standards than about her qualifications for assuming diplomatic responsibility of the highest
order. She is painfully lacking in those
offsetting government credentials that
have qualified other appointees to the Tokyo post notwithstanding their lack of
particular experience in East Asian or Japanese affairs.
While it is true that few prior appointees have been
fluent in Japanese, and that Ms. Kennedy can be readily excused for her lack of
that desirable credential, there are
limits to the leniency that can be extended to an ambassador's ability to
communicate with the host country. So
far from being conversant in Japanese, it appears that she has proven herself
painfully inarticulate in English. In a disastrous interview that has become
something of a template for incoherent political communication, Ms. Kennedy
used that winsome Valley Girl phrase, "you know?", a reported 200
times during the 30-minute conversation -- a rhetorical fiasco that was
instrumental in undermining her abortive candidacy for the New York senatorial
appointment. One can only wince at the
prospect of perplexed Japanese interpreters uttering "Gomen nasai,
wakari-masen," -- "Sorry,
don't quite follow" -- if Ms. Kennedy's diplomatic explanations of the
U.S. position on, say, North Korea's latest bellicosity bear any resemblance to
her attempted justification of her candidacy for the New York senate seat.
Oddly enough, however, none of these apparent
deficiencies are likely to elicit any objection from the Japanese
themselves. For one thing, they are
simply too polite, and would consider it unforgivably churlish to notice an
appointee's lack of qualifications.
Moreover, putting aside the diplomats who must actually deal with the
U.S. Embassy, the Japanese are generally more interested in the stature,
celebrity, and cache of the American Ambassador rather than his expertise or
experience. And at a time when improving
the status of women in government is a stated goal of the LDP, the fact that
Ms. Kennedy is a female may be viewed as more of an asset than a shortcoming.
Which raises an interesting question: If experience in government and foreign
relations or expertise in Japanese affairs are irrelevant to the appointment,
whereas celebrity and a record of prominent support for the President are
sufficient qualification, why settle for a faded icon of Camelot? When it comes to American celebrities in
Japanese eyes, R&B superstar Mariah Carey is second to none. Ms. Carey is far and away the most popular U.S.
recording artist in Japan, with album sales there in the multi-millions, and
she has repeatedly charmed thousands of Japanese in sold-out concerts in Tokyo
and other major cities. Further, Ms.
Carey's support for the Obama campaign was probably at least equal to that of
Ms. Kennedy's. She even composed a
fawning pro-Obama campaign ballad, called "Bring it Home," which she
performed herself at a ritzy New York fundraiser. In an administration obsessed with red carpet
glitz, over-the-top extravagance, and triumphant superficiality, Ms. Carey
seems far more suitable even than Ms. Kennedy for selection as its prime
representative to Japan.
But never mind.
Since Obama's policies on Japanese affairs are unlikely to be any more
successful than his disastrous policies on the economy, legal affairs, or energy
independence, naming a highly qualified official to advance those policies
would be a waste of diplomatic resources.
On the bright side, Ms. Kennedy will likely do less harm baffling the
Japanese Foreign Ministry with her Soho-Martha's Vineyard patois than she would
financing yet more victorious liberal candidacies here at home. Ya know?
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