MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama propose political consultant and elite fund-raiser as next ambassador in Argentina

Democrat Noah Mamet has been active in politics for almost two decades next to Clinton, Gephart and Obama

The White House has confirmed that US president Barack Obama has proposed fellow Democratic Party member Noah Mamet as the new ambassador in Buenos Aires, to replace outgoing incumbent Vilma Martínez.

As revealed by the government in April, Mamet is Obama's choice to replace Martínez, who has served at the head of the US embassy from September 18 2009 to July of the current year.

In common with his predecessor, Mamet is not a career diplomat and is known to have raised more that 500,000 dollars to Obama's last presidential campaign through a net work of donors in Los Angeles.

The candidate served as consultant to Democrat leader of the House of Representatives, Richard Gephart, between 1995 and 2003, and worked for the Bill Clinton Foundation. He also worked alongside former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright.

Mamet’s website shows that he founded a business and political consulting firm that bears his name in 2004. He was part or the Obama campaign’s national finance committee for the 2012 re-election.

In 2011, he was on the guest list for a White House state dinner honouring German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Mamet's selection must first be approved by the US Congress and the Argentine government before he takes his post in Buenos Aires. The embassy is currently under the supervision of business leader Kevin Sullivan, who belongs to the US diplomatic service.

Relations between Argentina and the United States have been volatile under the leadership of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, with the selection of consul staff occasionally raising tensions.

The last conflict between the two nations rose due to revelations of US cyber surveillance by the NSA which affected Argentina, although President President Cristina Fernandez stopped short of naming the nation in a formal complaint made to the courts