President Barack Obama might be turning to an old rival to become ambassador to Cuba, going back to a strategy he relied on during the first days of his presidency.
With the U.S. and Cuba continuing to normalize relations, the name of former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has been kicked around in the last week as a potential ambassador to that Caribbean nation.
Dodd has some credentials for the post. While he’s probably best known for his role on Dodd-Frank, the Connecticut Democrat, now 71, chaired the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee in the Senate and was an early supporter of ending the embargo with Cuba. Back in the 1960s, Dodd was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and he speaks Spanish.
While he did not make much of an impact, Dodd ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. Despite having spent more than 30 years in Congress, Dodd simply wasn’t a factor as Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson were also in the mix. Dodd flopped badly in Iowa and pulled the plug on his campaign before the New Hampshire primary.
Dodd was the odd man out when Obama moved into the White House in 2009. Biden ended up as vice president and Clinton as secretary of state. Richardson was in line to take over the Commerce Department before allegations about improper business practices, which he was later cleared of, forced him to withdraw his nomination. Had myriad personal scandals not destroyed his political career, Edwards could have ended up in the Obama administration as attorney general or in another position.
After Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals” became a bestseller back in 2005, comparisons were made between Obama selecting former primary opponents in his Cabinet with Abraham Lincoln doing the same thing after winning the presidency in 1860. Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” pretty much ended before he started his second term, with Salmon P. Chase moved to the Supreme Court which caused Edward Bates to resign and Simon Cameron exiled to Russia where he served as ambassador. Of the men Lincoln defeated at the 1860 Republican convention, only William Henry Seward remained at the State Department.
Something like that has happened to Obama’s primary rivals. Biden is still the vice president, of course, while Clinton left the State Department when Obama started his second term. Neither Edwards nor Richardson has resurfaced in national politics.
Now Dodd could re-emerge in national politics. With U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., now the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee chairman, threatening to block any ambassador to Cuba, Obama could be hoping that senatorial courtesy will help boost Dodd’s chances of getting nominated. Regardless, Dodd could be the latest and probably the last of Obama’s primary rivals to end up in his administration.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
