News | Sunday, 18 January 2009

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Out go the neocons, Molly packs her bags

MATTHEW VELLA
So long, the neocons. George Bush is (finally) vacating the White House.
And all good things come to an end: Molly Bordonaro, the media-savvy and hardworking US ambassador to Malta, is preparing to return back to Oregon with the swearing-in of Barack Obama.
Despite the insalubrious reputation of the Republicans who ruled planet earth, Bordonaro became an ambassador whose achievements truly forged a more intimate relationship between Malta and the USA.
A former policy consultant, between 2001 and 2004 Bordonaro served on the board of directors of Fannie Mae, the mortgage corporation that met its doom in the subprime housing crash. A year later, she was appointed ambassador to Malta.
She managed to reach important targets in Malta, most notably with the arduous double-taxation agreement and only recently with Malta’s entry into the Visa Waiver Programme. She also kick-started the project for the USA’s mega-embassy in Ta’ Qali, an $18.5 million compound in the area formerly housing the electoral counting hall.
To be sure, Bordonaro is as Republican as they come. Her electoral pledges in previous races for Congress promised less taxation, eliminating the Department of Education, abolishing parole for violent criminals, and supporting second amendment rights (the right to bear arms). She also opposed Bill Clinton’s healthcare plan – the provision of universal health care for Americans, as opposed to private insurance – by leading a national coalition, where she went around the country speaking at town-hall meetings against the plan. She had called the plan “most tyrannical form of government takeover.”
Of course, there is a flipside to all Republicans. For the neocons it was their neo-humanitarianism – using military power to intervene in crises like the Rwandan genocide or in Darfur, the latter attracting enormous conservative support in the US.
Bordonaro followed suit, pioneering a resettlement programme for refugees and migrants with temporary humanitarian protection. The USA doesn’t resettle refugees from Europe, but Bordonaro’s diplomatic skill must have prevailed, securing a programme to resettle hundreds of recognised refugees through UNHCR referral.
Bordonaro however did elevate her role as ambassador to one that will make it hard for her successor to match. With her regular press brunches, Bordonaro showed her skill at keeping the affable face of US republicanism in public view. She made sure American foreign policy in Malta always retained a prominent position.
She really did have the common touch, visibly at ease when meeting the Maltese in the community, and without the usual fustiness of the diplomatic corps.

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