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The Spectacle Blog
Politico reports that Doug Kmiec, the U.S. ambassador to Malta, is resigning:
A U.S. ambassador has offered the Obama administration his resignation after he was accused of spending too much time writing and speaking about his Roman Catholic beliefs to the detriment of his diplomatic duties.
…
His decision to step down comes just days after the State Department’s inspector general issued an audit asserting that Kmiec spent too much of his time expressing his religious views and not enough doing his job representing the United States in the island nation off the southern coast of Italy.
“I doubt very much whether one could ever spend too much time on this subject,” Kmiec wrote in his letter to the president, defending his focus on religious issues.
We’re not in a position to know the circumstances of Kmiec’s departure, in particular whether he was negligent on the job. But either way, it brings a small-scale controversy to a sad conclusion.
As noted in the Politico piece, Kmiec was awarded the ambassadorship for his support of Obama in the 2008 election. A former member of the Reagan and Bush administrations and a prominent Catholic academic, Kmiec provided an intellectual backstop for “ObamaCons” and Catholic supporters of Obama. Kmiec’s insistence that Catholics could vote for Obama despite his social liberalism, in particular, gave credence to Obama’s efforts to attract the swing Catholic vote.
It’s impossible to know Kmiec’s intentions, but his justifications of Obama’s policies from a Catholic perspective — especially his defense of Obama as a functionally pro-life politician — were tortured at best. A group of pro-life Catholic academics went so far as to create a website called Moral Accountability to hold Kmiec and others responsible for Obama’s policies once he took office, although the site became redundant not long after Obama began implementing his agenda and it became clear that it wouldn’t be pro-life in any way.
It now seems as though, whatever Kmiec’s motivation for initially defending candidate Obama, he thought that he could serve some greater good by ingratiating himself to Obama. His cited failures as an ambassador — focusing on areas of concern for the faithful at the expense of diplomatic work — are evidence of his desire for accomplishments in that area. I wonder if he would have been as supportive of Obama as he was had he known how much, or how little, he would be able to accomplish through their alliance. Again, it’s impossible to know what exactly was in Kmiec’s mind in 2008 or the factors behind his resignation now, but either way his is a cautionary tale.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/04/18/doug-kmiec-resigns
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Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 4.18.11 @ 5:53PM
So Ambassador Kmiec's resigning? What will Malta do without him? And this guys actually had the nerve to defend Obama as "a functionally pro-life politician" back in 2008? Obama pro-life? Ha!! And this guy's a Catholic too? No, he's not, he's a liar and a fraud, and has "no" principles, just like his close friend has none either. Malta's lucky to get rid of him, now if only we could get rid of his friend as easily!!
CalMark| 4.18.11 @ 5:59PM
So much for moral rationalization for personal gain.
Goodbye, Your (Not-at-all) Excellency. You won't be missed.
I Survived Arlen Specter| 4.18.11 @ 6:44PM
Just another false teacher whose advice the Catholic Church should ignore. Like all devoted leftists though, don't expect him to go away. Hopefully being away from politics will help Doug Kmiec to discover who God really is. As it stands now left wing politics appears to be his god.
With God all things r possible| 4.18.11 @ 7:53PM
I wrote to Doug Kmiec after he enabled the vote on health care. I tried to express, respectfully but clearly, my disappointment at his stance, and that he had enabled an abortion regime. He wrote back a polite answer, basically saying thanks for the letter and he would take it into consideration.
I guess he found out the limitations of working for someone who never met an abortion he didn't love.
David W| 4.18.11 @ 8:07PM
Why on Earth does Malta require an Ambassador? If it's off the coast of S. Italy couldn't the Italian Ambassador do double duty? Why would such a small island require its own ambassador? I'm just asking.
Spicy Joker| 4.18.11 @ 9:11PM
There is no "Catholic vote." This isn't the '60s.
It's not "impossible to know exactly what was in Kmiec's mind in 2008." He's a political prostitute who turns tricks for whichever side is in power.
mick lee| 4.19.11 @ 8:37AM
I cast no aspirations on Ambassador Kmiec's personal faith. I give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is a sincere Catholic. Mistaken, maybe, but a son of the Church nonetheless.What I want to know is when will the likes of Kmiec, C. Buckley and P. Noonen admit there bad judgment regarding candidate Obama and apologize to the rest of the Conservative community. I seem to remember them getting up on their high horse when whispers and questions concerning the lapse in their senses wafted through the forests, mountains, rivers and fruited plains of this great land. No need for them to eat crow. Just wash their mouths out with soap.
Sonny's Mom| 8.25.11 @ 12:44PM
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T
On June 5, 2008, Catholic News Service columnist Patricia Zapor wrote that "In endorsing [Obama for president], Kmiec has explained that he was drawn to Obama's "remarkable 'love thy neighbor' style of campaigning, his express aim to transcend partisan divide, and specifically, his appreciation for faith." (See http://www.catholicnews.com/da.....803004.htm)
Perhaps Professor Kmiec will finally begin to wake up and notice that when you live by the Chicago Way, all that good will comes at a price.