Another Boering diplomatic post

As a rule, Dubya's ambassadorial nominees come in two types: the crony/large donor who gets a plum appointment in a rich country (e.g. New Zealand's Lord of the Onion Rings), or the State Department lifer ("career foreign service officer") i.e. someone who is actually qualified for the job. So we were a bit puzzled by one of today's nominations:

The President intends to nominate Eric M. Bost, of Texas, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of South Africa. Mr. Bost currently serves as Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services at the United States Department of Agriculture. Prior to this, he served as Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Department of Human Services.

South Africa is one of those postings that could have gone either way; it is in Africa, which is usually a case for getting a qualified ambassador since none of the cronies want the job, but it's also a really nice place to live, at least in terms of the lifestyle that a US ambassador would have. And yet the choice was neither someone like one of those elite Texans that Dick Cheney was hunting with, or an old State Department hand who knows their Jameson Raid from Jameson Whiskey. But as usual, Google provides the explanation. For instance, Bost appeared at an interesting meeting in North Carolina a few years ago:

In a state where fewer than 5 percent of black voters are registered Republicans, GOP leaders are sending a message: The Republican Party stands for issues important to blacks.

That was the goal of the dinner Saturday in Charlotte featuring two high-ranking Bush appointees. Claude Allen of the Department of Health and Human Services and Eric Bost of the Department of Agriculture, both black men with N.C. roots, addressed a crowd of about 340 on the Bush administration's efforts to promote blacks within the party.

Sadly, Bost's co-panelist from that night later encountered some "misunderstandings" but the story is enough to highlight Dubya's thinking for this nomination: he can toss a perk to one of his very few relatively high ranking black officials while sending a black ambassador to South Africa. It's one of those things that the pundits will find somehow pleasing, even though Bost's career shows no actual qualifications to be serving in South Africa. Then again, he could have seen the Oscar-winning Tsotsi, making him more qualified than we would be for the job.