Timken’s First Year as Ambassador

Joerg has asked American bloggers to weigh in on US Ambassador to Germany Willam "Tim" Timken on his first year in Berlin.  I have to confess, I haven’t heard much about him since he took over the post last August. I did make an effort to look for him during President Bush’s recent trip to Germany, but he was not in any of the photos or video clips that I could see, nor was he quoted in the press reports (dominated by the president’s enthusiasm for the barbecued pig).  Joerg has a generally favorable post about him on the Atlantic Review.

Timken had the advantage of becoming ambassador in the waning days of the Schroeder era and the election of Angela Merkel as the new German chancellor.  Timken has certainly benefitted from the improved atmosphere between Germany and US, as the Iraq War has somewhat faded in Germany as an issue and the threat of a nuclear Iran looms. In one sense, Timken is an improvement over his predecessor Daniel Coates: Timken is no ideologue.  He represents the "can do" American spirit of enterprise, familiar (in a positive way) to Germans.  And I was impressed by this article (cited by Joerg) in the Tagesspiegel, which describes the work of the ambassador and his wife Sue in the Muslim community of Berlin. 

TImken is the first to admit that he is no diplomat; he was given this post as a reward for his generous fundraising activites for Bush and the GOP.  His appointment was par for the course for the Bush administration, which in general looks down on career diplomats in the State Department.  The ambassador’s role is now largely ceremonial; he presides at ribbon-cutting ceremonies and attends some state dinners.  To his credit, Timken – who speaks no German – seems to genuinely take an interest in Germany and Germans, and travels constantly around the country meeting people.

Still, there is no avoiding the fact that the US ambassador must answer to the policies of his homeland, and Timken cannot forever avoid questions about Khaleed al-Masri – the German citizen who was a victim of extraordinary rendition by the CIA – and Murat Kurnaz – the young, apparently innocent, Turkish-German Muslim from Bremen who is imprisoned at Guantanamo.