The conservative legal scholar gave critical cover to Barack Obama in the 2008 election, but found himself hamstrung by internal opposition within the State Department and resigned his ambassadorship to Malta. Given the record of the Obama bus and who has been thrown under it, it seems prudent, when dealing with this administration, to collect on one's quo before giving up on one's quid. (Witty, if perhaps unfair, comment from Facebook friend J.B.: "It profits a man not to sell his soul for the whole world... but for Malta? For a half-term?")