Critics Blast Obama's Zinni Flip-Flop

Remember those fat times, back in December, when competence and seamless coordination were back in town? Oh well. Joining the parade of minor appointment-related slip-ups is the apparent bait-and-switch pulled on retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, reports Politico. Zinni was told he had the job of Iraq ambassador—then the rug got pulled out; critics say this is typical of the Obama administration’s chaotic foreign policy transition.

Zinni even got a call of congratulations from Joe Biden, before the job was inexplicably yanked away, and he was offered the Saudi Arabia ambassadorship instead. “They handled this in an extremely amateurish way,” says a former Clinton official. Observers worry that the apparent disarray points to an ambiguous chain of command—no good for a foreign policy apparatus.