The US ambassador, Mike Sullivan, should be resigning today as George W. Bush is inaugurated as president. Sullivan, like some 50 other US ambassadors, is a political, as opposed to a career, appointee and he tendered his resignation once Bush was declared victor; such letters will be activated today and ambassadors will vacate their posts by March 1st. Sullivan, however, has just been asked to stay on in Ireland by the State Department. Washington told him the transition team wants him here at least until the summer.
Why? Well, Bush has little interest in Ireland; there are a number of well-placed Irish-American republicans who are canvassing for the Dublin job and choosing between them is not high on Bush's agenda; Sullivan is well-regarded in both capitals; he is close to the new vice-president, Dick Cheney, also from Wyoming, and he is happy to continue here. What could happen, however, is a change at Deputy Chief of Mission level, since the rotation time for Earle Scarlett and his wife Barbara Scarlett, public affairs officer, has arrived and if the ambassador is staying, the number two could go.