Goodbye to Ambassador Garcetti, and good riddance

Eric Garcetti did nothing to advance Indo-US relations, which surprised no one who scrutinized his public embrace of Communist China when he served as Mayor of Los Angeles from 2013-2022.

- MAURA MOYNIHAN

In 22 November 2024, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti posted a cartoonish video on social media to promote a USAID funded Sesame Street Workshop in India, where he cavorts with Muppets and chirps: "Together we're inspiring future leaders and creating brighter futures for every child!" To date, Garcetti has posted nothing about the escalating crisis in Bangladesh or Chinese military incursions into Indian sovereign territory, but the good news is that the incoming Trump administration will soon replace Garcetti with a US envoy who will treat his host nation with respect and take seriously all threats to India's security.

Upon his arrival in New Delhi on 11 May 2023, Garcetti and his staff pitched a relentless stream of inauthentic and clumsy videos of Garcetti gushing over kulfi and the fabulousness of "The Taj," as if the top job for the US ambassador is filming promos for Sheraton holiday specials, a risible strategy for "engaging" India, which does hospitality and culture like no place on earth. Garcetti's most infamous stunt was staging Bollywood dance numbers, in tacky costumes and sunglasses, in front of the US Chancery during Diwali season in 2023 and 2024, a spectacle savaged on social media and roundly mocked in the diplomatic corps. Garcetti's gauche public appearances went over as poorly as his artificial media posts about the marvels of masala chai, because Indians are too smart for this condescending peppy tourist act, nor are Indians dazzled by Sesame Street videos or USAID grants, when multiple crises are exploding across South and West Asia.