Readers React: Marco Rubio’s disgraceful obstructionism on U.S. ambassadorship to Mexico

To the editor: Apparently, the confidence of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as to Roberta Jacobson’s qualification to be the United States ambassador to Mexico is insufficient to assuage Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) “belief” that he can improve his chances of securing his party’s presidential nomination by personally impeding the conduct of American foreign policy in an important Latin American nation. (“Move by Rubio leaves U.S. without ambassador to Mexico,” Dec. 24)

Irrespective of party affiliation, this kind of behavior is reprehensible.

Hopefully, the American electorate will see fit not to entrust our foreign policy in toto to someone whose strategic vision seems to extend no further than his personal short-term advantage and whose notion of the Caribbean basin resembles the view of a backyard sandbox.

Glenn Harcourt, Pasadena

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To the editor: A single senator, Marco Rubio, blocks the appointment of a well-qualified diplomat to be ambassador to Mexico despite approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and widespread bipartisan support.

And it’s totally consistent with rules not prescribed by the Constitution but supported by the vast majority of “senior statesmen” who value individual prerogative over group consensus.

Please don’t refer in the future to the United States Senate as the “world’s greatest deliberative body.” A more apt description would be “the world’s most tradition-bound, dysfunctional body.”

This isn’t democracy; it’s lunacy.

Ronald P. Wolff, Claremont

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To the editor: In placing a legislative hold on Jacobson’s nomination for the U.S. ambassadorship in Mexico, Rubio has confirmed that he is not ready to lead this country. Being president is about serving the citizens of the United States, not personal agendas.

Terri Nolan, San Clemente

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