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No matter how much the political system changes, some things in DC will always stay the same. The latest example? MSNBC reports that Obama has appointed three campaign fundraisers (two of whom raised over $500k) to plum ambassadorial posts - the United Kingdom, Japan and France. No hardship posts or small, remote locales there. <span style="font-weight: bold">It would be highly unusual for a President to appoint a key fundraiser as Ambassador to Sierra Leone or Equatorial Guinea. Nope, those are for the career diplomats.</span> 
Instead, over the years Republican and Democratic Presidents alike have sent campaign allies to places where there are important, powerful relationships to foster and lovely residences to inhabit.
To his credit, Obama did acknowledge the likelihood of this happening before he assumed office. And there is definitely strategic and political sense in appointing trustworthy friends to pivotal posts. Your Gaggler just thinks it odd that an Administration can commit to curbing the financial and political influence of lobbyists and at the same time tap fundraisers for important international slots. Certainly fundraising and lobbying are different trades, but both often have access and cash as their trademarks, and have been accused of holding undue power in the corridors and meeting rooms of the nation's capital.
Instead, over the years Republican and Democratic Presidents alike have sent campaign allies to places where there are important, powerful relationships to foster and lovely residences to inhabit. To his credit, Obama did acknowledge the likelihood of this happening before he assumed office. And there is definitely strategic and political sense in appointing trustworthy friends to pivotal posts. Your Gaggler just thinks it odd that an Administration can commit to curbing the financial and political influence of lobbyists and at the same time tap fundraisers for important international slots. Certainly fundraising and lobbying are different trades, but both often have access and cash as their trademarks, and have been accused of holding undue power in the corridors and meeting rooms of the nation's capital.