WASHINGTON WATCH : A Nice Thought

On the face of it there is absolutely nothing wrong with the White House’s apparent decision to nominate Adm. William J. Crowe Jr. as ambassador to Great Britain.

American Presidents have almost infinite leeway on such appointments, Crowe was one of the few top military men to support Bill Clinton’s candidacy last year and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is not only a fine public official but a well-liked one, too. London could do a lot worse than to have him as the American ambassador.

In fact, it often has. That prestigious posting has more than a few times been used by newly elected Presidents as no more than a blatant pay-back to big-bucks political contributors or big-time party mucky-mucks.

In fact, London has seen so many American political palookas in that job that when Raymond Seitz, the current U.S. ambassador, was named by George Bush in 1991, and then was kept on temporarily by President Clinton, the British--both government and opposition--were very pleased.

That’s because Seitz was eminently qualified for the job. A former deputy chief of mission in London and then assistant secretary of state for European affairs, he is the only professional American diplomat ever to have that position of honor. Bush’s decision was thus a huge compliment to the career American Foreign Service.

No doubt it would now be asking too much of Clinton’s political people to find a different but commensurately prestigious post for Crowe--and leave Seitz in place.

But it is a nice thought.