Inside scoop from a D.C. informant on Dennis Ross:
Ross was all set for the big job: envoy reporting to the President, covering both the I-P conflict and Iran.
But then his successor at the Washington Institute, Rob Satloff,
decided that he had to tell the media that a WINEP guy had been
picked. Good for fundraising in difficult times. So Rob Satloff
blabbed to everyone, the news appeared everywhere, and Team Obama
decided that this was an indication that Ross might be something of a
loose cannon (and too close to the lobby) and that he had best not be
in so sensitive a position. So he will be hired but, considering he
was talked up earlier as a possible Secretary of State, he won't get
anything where he is not directly under someone's thumb (probably
Clinton's).
But then his successor at the Washington Institute, Rob Satloff,
decided that he had to tell the media that a WINEP guy had been
picked. Good for fundraising in difficult times. So Rob Satloff
blabbed to everyone, the news appeared everywhere, and Team Obama
decided that this was an indication that Ross might be something of a
loose cannon (and too close to the lobby) and that he had best not be
in so sensitive a position. So he will be hired but, considering he
was talked up earlier as a possible Secretary of State, he won't get
anything where he is not directly under someone's thumb (probably
Clinton's).
Some say that Satloff, jealous of his predecessor's stature, which
he most definitely does not have, intentionally killed the appointment
by leaking it. Either way, Satloff did him in. Satloff is of course way to Ross's right on Israel-Palestine. His bosses at AIPAC may have decided they didn't want Ross. But now they have Mitchell and they are freaking…
