Doug Kmiec is a devout Roman Catholic, and Republican, who supported Barack Obama for president in 2008. For his efforts, he was made Ambassador to Malta.
The administration originally floated his name for Ambassador to the Vatican, along with Caroline Kennedy's, but both were rejected by the Vatican. (Yes, the Vatican gets veto power over who gets appointed Ambassador there. Thank Ronald Reagan.)
Kmiec has resigned in the wake of a 49 page report from the Inspector General (OIG) critical of Kmiec for spending too much time "on writing and speaking, especially in areas seemingly unrelated to his ambassadorial post." A key passage from the report:
He (Kmiec) is respected by Maltese officials and most mission staff, but his unconventional approach to his role as ambassador has created friction with principal officials in Washington, especially over his reluctance to accept their guidance and instructions. Based on a belief that he was given a special mandate to promote President Obama’s interfaith initiatives, he has devoted considerable time to writing articles for publication in the United States as well as in Malta, and to presenting his views on subjects outside the bilateral portfolio. He has been inconsistent in observance of clearance procedures required for publication. . . . His approach has required Department principals, as well as some embassy staff, to spend an inordinate amount of time reviewing his writings, speeches, and other initiatives. . .
The report, in a nutshell, portrays Kmiec as doing his own thing, writing articles, disregarding staff and Embassy issues. The United States is constructing a new Embassy building in Malta, and the report suggests Kmiec has not given this undertaking the attention it needs.
Kmiec has chosen to spin it differently. When the OIG report was first issued, Kmiec said he was "troubled and saddened that a handful of individuals within my department in Washington seem to manifest a hostility to expressions of faith and efforts to promote better interfaith understanding." In other words, somebody is out to get him because of his faith.
Most recently, according to TPM, Kmiec says "the State Department improperly clamped down on articles he wrote about his Catholic faith and his admiration for President Ronald Reagan."
Kmiec regularly wrote on faith issues, including pieces for the Catholic News Service and the National Catholic Reporter. More recently, a piece he wrote in praise of Ronald Reagan was spiked by the State Department.
Kmiec's letter of resignation to Secretary of State Clinton is here. He is quite effusive in his praise of the Secretary of State, ironic since he once worked to impeach her husband. In it, he indicates that perhaps OIG is giving him a "sting-back" for a critical article he wrote in 1989, then goes on to say:
In the weeks since the OIG’s flawed and narrow vision of our diplomatic mission, people of good will in the middle ranks of our Department have seen it as their calling to strictly enforce it. As a consequence, my voice has been prevented from speaking; my pen has been enjoined from writing; and my actions have been confined to the ministerial. You deserve better, but until these rigid, and rigidly narrow, perspectives are overcome, you and the President are being deprived of the intelligent insight of much of your Embassy’s work. Should you want to challenge this organizational difficulty, I am at your service. In the interim, you have my full commitment to deliver until the final tick off the clock on August 15 next.
One wonders at this curious phrasing: "...you and the President are being deprived on the intelligent insight of much of your Embassy's work." That appears to be a shot at somebody--who's depriving them? The President has already accepted Kmiec's resignation. The date of his departure has been moved up from August 15 to May.
Secretary of State Clinton has made no public comment, but the State Department has taken issue with Kmiec's assertion that State is "rigidly narrow" in rejecting the role of religion in foreign policy. Said State Department spokesman Evan Owen on Monday:
“We have an ambassador for religious freedom; we have an office for international religious freedom; we publish two reports a year on religious freedom; we maintain a list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom.
I'm broken up about this. Really. I'm sure Hillary is, too.
Posted by: Hypatia | April 26, 2011 at 11:36 AM
Yeah, I'm sure she was shattered emotionally.
Posted by: John Petty | April 26, 2011 at 07:50 PM