Following the sad example of Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state for what seemed like forever, Samantha Power is quitting as this country's ambassador to the United Nations. What's in a name? Very little in her case, for Ambassador Power has ginned up a record as powerless as the United Nations' own.
The poor dear seemed to think it was some sort of accomplishment to have touched down on the tarmac of every one of the 189 countries--count 'em!--with which this one has diplomatic relations. Call it diplomacy as tourism, and tourism of the most meaningless kind at that. ("Let's see, if this is Sunday, we must be in Tonga. Hello, goodbye and wings up.")
Oh, for the days when the United States was represented by an ambassador to the United Nations like the uncompromising Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Or the bewhiskered John Bolton, who combined guts and guile. Whether those good old days will return under the auspices of our ever-tweeting president-elect can only be a matter of conjecture, or maybe only wild hope. But hold the good thought, however unlikely it may be to bear fruit in an age when any thought about policy foreign or domestic must be reduced to 140 characters. A statesman like the Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill might take that long just to clear his brandy-soaked throat before addressing Commons.
Instead, American diplomacy is reduced to being represented for now by the hapless Samantha Power, a character so weak she'd make Donald Trump look positively Churchillian in comparison. God save the Queen and the United States of America, for it doesn't look as though any other Power can do so, especially one named Samantha.
Editorial on 01/10/2017