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The Next McCain?
Al Hartmann, Salt Lake Tribune / AP Photo
Jon Huntsman’s decision to take the China ambassadorship follows a calculus that positions him as the Republicans’ new maverick—and a presidential contender in 2016.
President Barack Obama pulled off an extraordinary political rendition this week—snatching one of his potential Republican rivals for the 2012 election and shipping him off to China.
Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. had laid claim to John McCain’s maverick mantle and, while publicly coy about his ambition, insiders here in Salt Lake City tell me that he was serious about his presidential aspirations: He met with top national political consultants and was in the early stages of creating a national political action committee that would make his White House intentions clear.
Obama derailed that on May 5 in a private Oval Office meeting, where he offered the governor the job of ambassador to China, a position Huntsman was uniquely qualified for in a nation that he has been fascinated with since boyhood. An anecdote I was told this weekend: At age 11, Huntsman, whose father worked in the Nixon White House, helped haul Henry Kissinger’s luggage to a waiting helicopter when the secretary of State embarked on his secret mission to Beijing in 1971.
If this all sounds very McCain-like, that’s not a coincidence. Huntsman became McCain’s national co-chairman during the last election, prompting much griping as most Utah Republicans were lining up behind Mitt Romney, who ran the state’s 2002 Winter Olympics.
Without a doubt, he’s been groomed for this job ever since. We’ve all read how he speaks Mandarin fluently, adopted a daughter from Jiangsu Province, conducted business in the region, and served as ambassador to Singapore and deputy U.S. Trade Representative for the region. Visit his office, and you’ll find it adorned with Asian art, and at every opportunity, he slips in a Chinese phrase or Confucian aphorism.
“It’s a spectacular pick,” Evan Feigenbaum, a China expert with the Council on Foreign Relations and former State Department official in the Bush administration, tells me. “I think he’s someone who operates politically at a level the Chinese will appreciate.”
That political savvy has been on display in Utah since his first election in 2004. His approval ratings were recently in the mid-80s, despite (or maybe due to) his willingness to challenge the Utah orthodoxy, both his Republican Party and, more remarkably, the Mormon Church, the faith to which about two-thirds of the state’s residents belong.
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When can we expect the character assassination to begin ??
lol ;)
This is the first I have header of him but if he is willing to work with the realities that be rather than plugging his ears and screaming and yelling than he has my support.
Its sad that the threshold for a GOP candidate to be considered better than average has dipped so low *grinn*
I kinda like the guy.
So, we trade the Chicago Ken and Barbie for the Utah Ken and Barbie?
What better credentials could one have in 2016? We'll be in debt to China up to our eyeballs by then, we better know how to smooze them.
I agree both times. 2016 may be some interesting times . . . so long as we survive 2012.
What better credentials could one have in 2016? We'll be in debt up to our eyeballs to China, we'll need someone who knows how to smooze them.
Why would the Republican party want another McCain? One was plenty. Make it three if you count Bush's two terms.
the title says it all: The Next McCain
democrats rejoice!
Another "moderate" Republican...just what the GOP needs! Consulting with McCain advisers? Laughable! The same advisers who led their guy to an embarrassing pathetic defeat. These loser "moderates" will only help to continue the GOP death spiral.
John McCain == loser.
Huntsman == loser.
In that sense, then yes.
We "transplants" to Utah are very sad to see him leave. Utah will always have a Republican in the Gov's mansion but he was the first to bring common sense to the area. Since I was born and raised as a democrat, my father might disown me for the next statement: If he runs in 2016, he has my vote.
Huntsman? Really?
You have GOT to be kidding.
When 2012 gets here, you will NOT see a RINO as the nominee. No more idiot moderates like McCain or this guy.
Sarah Palin will be the nominee, and the next President, that is if we still have a country to be President of, after 4 years of that idiot Obama in the WH!
Yeah, moderates are idiots. Extremists are smart. Moderates are all like, looking at both sides to issues and trying to think about them from a rational perspective and stuff. I HATE that. Thinking is elitist. Visceral, knee-jerk reactions are they way to govern. The more extreme the better!
Oh, I agree, Obama's an idiot, too. Anyone who graduates from Columbia and Harvard Law is clearly stupid. Now a smarty like Sarah Palin, on the other hand, spent time at Hawaii Pacific College and not one, but two community colleges, before finally getting a degree from the University of Idaho. Community colleges are, like, really hard, and it's not like she could study all the time because she had to prepare for beauty contests and stuff.
When 2012 gets here, the Party of Limbaugh, Palin, "Secession" Perry, &"Bring Out The Waterboard" Cheney wil have, just like China's "Cultural Revolution" of the 60's, purged out every remaining "unpure" Republican. Which means they will no longer be a national political party, but rather a narrow-minded, mean-spirited country club clique who will tune into Boss Limbaugh's daily radio show and be told what to think and say. And if Sarah Palin were to ever become our President.......I'm off to Canada........you know, that other country she can probably see from her house.
"The China dispatch maybe be a short-term detour..."
I see a small mistake here, shouldn't it be ".... may be a...."?
Interesting post.
Also:
"I think of lot of what drives Jonny in Asia is to continue that challenge."
As in *a* lot of???
He didn't have a chance. ANY Republican that voted for or supported the Porkulus Bill will have zero chance come 2012. We have had it with the bankruptcy of our children. (I know, Bush was terrible on spending. So let's double down on stupid!) And CheapHysterics, just for the record, one of the biggest nitwits I've ever met in my life was an Ivy League trained physician. A Harvard education is no guarantee of anything.
A few years back, once McCain had lost the nomination to GW Bush, I noted that he had the opportunity to become like Robert La Follette, the great progressive Republican from Wisconsin who championed everything from sufferage to banking reform and trade unuins.
If McCain had become more like LaFollette he could have had a great positive impact on the country. He might not have been nominated last year, but his good works would have been remembered in a positive light for decades and longer.
Now Huntsman will have that chance once he returns from China. Let's hope he uses his powers for good instead of standing in the way of progress.
finally, upon reflection, perhaps it's not a great comparison, but this magazine was the one which brought up the subject.
Thank you.
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