In a world where people believe moon rocks are harboring aliens ("Apollo 18" is only a movie people!), that Elvis is being held hostage in an Afghan cave by Al Qaeda (I just made that up but it could, if repeated enough, gain currency), then it should come as no surprise that someone believes California's eminently forgettable former lieutenant governor Cruz Bustamante ought to be the next U.S. ambassador to India.
But what is strange is that that someone is actually a U.S. congressman. Yes, it's now being reported U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, has penned a letter to President Obama recommending that Bustamante get the nod to represent U.S. interests in New Dehli.
Remember Bustamante's last, unfortunate outing in the public arena. That's when he ran for state Insurance Commissioner and found himself in a pickle by accepting $150,000 in campaign contributions from the insurance industry. It was such a political faux pas that Bustamante went nuclear: he said if were elected he would keep his pledge to cut insurance rates just as he had kept his promise to his family to lose weight. If memory is correct, he lost up to 70 lbs on his diet (his current weight? - we'll get back to you). This promise did not fly with Harvey Rosenfield, the godfather of Prop. 103, California's own iconic "third rail" of politics, who endorsed Bustamante's opponent - dare we say it, a Republican - Steve Poizner, the eventual winner in that 2006 race.
(It should be noted here that Bustamante, if he were to get the Obama nod and that of the U.S. Senate, would join a fairly august crowd of statesmen to head up U.S. interests in India; previous U.S. ambassadors to India include Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Chester Bowles and John Kenneth Galbraith).
My most vivid recollection of Sherman is when, running for congress in the 1980's, he handed me several Sherman for Congress" combs. Kissing babies, potholders, complimentary combs. All part of the election shtick. But Sherman is and was at the time a dome-top. Pretty much bald. The combs were supposed to be a joke.
Anyway, is this Bustamante-for-ambassador plan cut from the same cloth of humor? Not according to insiders who say Sherman is dead-serious. With redistricting having thrown him into a seat that is decidedly thick with Latino voters, Sherman has calculated that he needs help from a Latino (read - Bustamante) if he's going to survive next year's election. That election won't be the usual cakewalk for Sherman because redistricting has put him in the same bailiwick as his Democratic seatmate, U.S. Cong. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys. This is - how shall we say it? - one too many congressmen in one district. You get the picture. One of them has to go, and Bustamante is now a pawn in this game.
So, who says we need an NFL stadium downtown? We can get our fill of bone-crunching tackles watching the Sherman-Berman cage-fight.
Still missing: a copy of Sherman's letter recommending Bustamante and the former lieutenant governor's own take on this proposal. A quick search of the internet turned up no recent accounts of Bustamante's activities.