BY PHILIP J CUNNINGHAM
The appointment of Caroline Kennedy as US Ambassador to Japan is about as inspired a choice as a non-merit based appointment can be, because the optics work for Americans and Japanese alike. An amiable member of a political clan that enjoys quasi-royal status in the media, Ms. Kennedy recently presented her credentials to the Emperor of Japan, showing up at the palace in a gilded horse-drawn cart with well-wishers lining the streets of Tokyo to get a glimpse.
Japan’s attachment to the Kennedy magic dates to the JFK presidency, when advances in live television and satellite broadcast made it possible to beam to Japan iconic images of the life and death of a uniquely popular president. Part of what made November 22, 1963 poignant was that Kennedy advisors were en route to Japan to prepare for a presidential visit when he was gunned down. The Japan visit of Caroline Kennedy’s uncle Robert Kennedy, also a victim of US political violence, is fondly remembered even today.
In diplomatic terms, Tokyo is ultra sensitive and as shy as a geisha when it comes to “Japan-passing” which is to say, expect a hissy fit if the US does not give Japan sufficient face, or shows the slightest iota of diplomatic preference for China. As such, the Japan media was non-plussed with President Obama’s back-door appointment for the previous ambassador, John Roos, an unknown, uncharismatic campaign donor who was rewarded with a prestige posting to the detriment of bilateral ties. Caroline Kennedy’s appointment remedies this by speaking to Japan in a language it understands –not Japanese of course, but in the symbolic language of partisan diplomacy, shared elitist values and a charm offensive in the media.
Thus in Japan, the Kennedy legend is alive and well and kicking, arguably more so than anywhere else outside the US except Ireland, where JFK’s sister Jean Kennedy Smith was once appointed ambassador and where the Kennedy clan roots in County Wexford remain a point of pride.
In a more understated way, the appointment of Gary Locke as US Ambassador to China was also a shrewd choice. The optics worked for both sides, a triumph for Chinese-Americans whose long struggle to make it in America saw symbolic vindication, and a tip of the hat to China, the ancestral homeland which evinced some pride and curiosity as well, though not as effusively as in the case of the Kennedys in Ireland.
Although Ambassador Locke’s tenure as ambassador has not been quite the success once imagined, there was still a palpable sense of surprise and quiet disappointment when he announced he was stepping down.
Dispatching a Kennedy to Japan has upped the prestige stakes for soon-to-be-vacant Beijing post, and the stature and qualifications of Locke’s replacement will be studied closely for symbolic cues as to what it says about the Obama administration’s commitment to US-China ties.
The problem with American diplomacy is that it reflects problems at home, where class lines are increasingly sharply drawn and where the “guanxi” of elite lineage and photo-op potential of identity politics often guide the selection of candidates for very serious jobs that require hard-earned knowledge, cross-cultural training, and old-fashioned merit.
It’s been a while since the US appointed an ambassador to Japan who actually knew a thing or two about the country –John Roos went to Tokyo knowing little more of Japan than could be garnered from sushi shops in the Silicon Valley. Several of his predecessors were equally unfamiliar with the culture but otherwise effective, if only because they were political heavyweights that the Japanese elite could relate to, such as Walter Mondale, Howard Baker, and Mike Mansfield.
The appointment of a Kennedy to the Tokyo post is the kind of rum-to-riches legend that PM Abe Shinzo can identify with as he too hails from a political clan that, despite a history of murky historic business dealings and wrong-headed support for the Axis cause, has managed to successfully reinvent itself over and over. Abe's grandfather Kishi Nobusuke, was a wartime minister who exploited Chinese labor in Japan-occupied China, and was arrested on war criminal charges, only to turn around and become a pro-US prime minister, while his father, Abe Shintaro, was an influential foreign minister.
Given Obama’s obsession with the optics of identity, it’s hard to escape the sense that race was not a factor in Gary Locke’s appointment. The US Embassy in Beijing has seen one veritable China hand, J. Stapleton Roy, take the post, while Winston Lord and Clark Randt had at least rudimentary familiarity with diplomacy and the culture. Jim Sasser was no China hand, but a deft diplomat and a gentleman. Jon Huntsman’s purely political appointment was undermined by the perception that Obama had "exiled" him to Beijing in a Machiavellian move to keep him sidelined as a potential presidential contender.
While there is nothing new about posh jobs being handed out as spoils or political favors, the Obama administration has taken back-door dealing to new heights. As such, the world’s greatest democracy is becoming more feudal in its diplomacy, even as developing nations shake off the vestiges of feudalism and cultivate diplomats through training and meritocratic means.
Not only are Chinese diplomats expected to speak English well, but China can deftly field Japanese-speaking ambassadors to Tokyo and Thai-speaking ambassadors to Bangkok, just to mention two examples.
The problem is, America is not much of a meritocracy anymore. The president has shown himself to have the ear of Wall Street, the Pentagon and the NSA, but is tone-deaf to the plight of the poor and the shocking rise of inequality on his watch. Social mobility is at an all-time low and the working poor cannot obtain a living wage, while the top 1% is filthy rich and getting richer.
Foreign policy closely mirrors domestic values, and Obama’s diplomatic appointments offer a window on how he sees the world; a world reeking of elitism, favoritism, identity politics and big money.
A non-merit based appointment can be inspired, and even a boon to bilateral relations, as the selection of Caroline Kennedy appears to be. But it also says something about the rise of inequality and the miasma of the current American mindset that name and fame and identity continue to trump more practical qualifications for sensitive diplomatic posts.