Not among Senate confirmations — US ambassador to Norway

A Obama donor whose botched confirmation hearing led to embarrassing questions for the White House is withdrawing his nomination as U.S. ambassador to Norway, he said Monday.

George Tsunis told Newsday that his bid was “over” after it appeared his nomination would not get a vote in the final hours of Senate business this year.

{mosads}”Things don’t always work out as we plan, but [I’m] very much looking forward to focusing full time on my wife, my children, my business and my community,” Tsunis told the paper, adding that it was a “tremendous life-learning experience.”

He said he would not accept a renomination to the post in the next Congress.

“I don’t think anybody would think it’s a good idea,” he said. “Norway has been without an ambassador for two years and the overarching thing should be: Let’s get them a first-rate ambassador.”

During Tsunis’s confirmation hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee, he acknowledged that he had never been to Norway and mistakingly referred to the nation’s president, when in fact it has a king and prime minister. He also described one of Norway’s major political parties as a “fringe element.”

Prominent Democrats, including Sens. Al Franken (Minn.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) had said they would oppose his nomination, which — along with other donor selections, including the naming of a soap opera producer to become the ambassador to Hungary — prompted tough questions for the White House about the customary practice of using the diplomatic posts as rewards.

Press secretary Josh Earnest said earlier this year the administration retained “full confidence” in the abilities of its political nominees, calling it “shortsighted to automatically rule out nominees that aren’t career Foreign Service officers.”

“If that were the case, that means that Caroline Kennedy would not be serving as the ambassador to Japan,” Earnest said. “I think most people, even some Republicans, would agree that she’s doing a pretty good job over there.”