Conservative legal scholar and former Ronald Reagan aide Douglas Kmiec of Pepperdine University Law School gave Barack Obama a well-timed career boost last year. Now, Obama has returned the favor.
On Thursday, Obama announced the nomination of Kmiec to be ambassador to Malta.
Last February, in the heat of primary season, Kmiec authored a ringing endorsement of Obama in Slate magazine. It resonated because of Kmiec's background, which had included service in Reagan's Office of Legal Counsel most recently backing Mitt Romney's campaign. But by February 2008, Kmiec wrote a love letter to Obama that noted:
"John McCain will have many Catholics in the pews a little while longer, but more than a few of us are thinking of giving him up for Lent. Reagan used to say that he didn't leave the Democratic Party, it left him. The launch of "Reaganites for Obama" might not be far behind."
Not every contribution from a future ambassador comes in the form of lucre.
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