Complete mastery of the game of basketball as a coach a Michael Jordan does not one make. The brightest product of an MBA program has no business suddenly undertaking to guide the fortunes of a large corporation. And a scholar of military history, no matter how erudite, does not gain through study the minimum qualifications personally to lead even a platoon of soldiers. They lack the practical experience career diplomats gain through many years of dealing with foreigners, living around the globe, and practicing the arcane skills of diplomacy. Alone among industrialized nations, America continues to follow in large measure selection procedures for its highest diplomatic appointments that most advanced nation-states discarded close to a century ago.
Careerists fill nearly all of the latters' ambassadorial posts, and have for many decades.
In contrast, currently no less than thirty percent of the more than 100 U.S. ambassadors are non-professionals. They come directly from such sources as the president's political party or election campaign, the ranks of former members of Congress or governors, leaders from business and on occasion education and literature, and retired senior military officers. Thus, at any given time these days, the United States maintains abroad some forty amateur ambassadors, many with at least debatable qualifications. These individuals hold posts from London to Beijing, from Stockholm to Nassau and a number of capital cities in between. A case can be made for their nomination, and indeed for an even greater number of non careerists.