Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it has been nearly 9 months since the United States had an Ambassador to Mexico. The President's nominee to that post, Roberta Jacobson, is eminently qualified for the post. The Arizona Republic noted in an editorial from March that ``she's qualified, respected and needed to do an important job.'' They are right. For more than 20 years, Ms. Jacobson has been immersed in the regional, political, economic, and security issues related to the Western Hemisphere. In fact, as part of her extensive background, she served for a time as Director of the Office of Mexican Affairs at the State Department. She is obviously fluent in Spanish and has earned the respect of her colleagues. She served for 3 years as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Canada, Mexico, and NAFTA issues within the Bureau of Western Hemisphere--experience that would later serve the United States well given that Mexico is America's third largest trading partner, with bilateral trade totaling more than half a trillion dollars. However, she has been waiting for the Senate to confirm her nomination since the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported it to the Senate in November of last year by a vote of 12 to 7. It should be incomprehensible to anyone around the country to have a post of the top diplomat to one of our most important bilateral relations open for this long, but for Arizonans, it is particularly baffling. Arizona alone enjoyed a trade relationship with Mexico of nearly $17 billion last year.…”