Why Huntsman Went to China

Utah Governor John Huntsman was supposed to be President Obama’s biggest threat in 2012 … until he accepted a job as the administration’s ambassador to China last week. What gives? "We all thought it was going to be [former State Department counselor] Wendy Sherman," a State Department official tells The New Republic. "Huntsman is incredibly fit for the job and will be well-received in China, but were there political motivations behind this? Everybody here thinks so." Huntsman campaigned as a conventional Republican in 2004, but first broke with his party on the environment, before taking relatively liberal stances on immigration, unions, education, Obama’s stimulus, and civil unions (he now favors repealing the gay marriage and civil union ban he supported in 2004). He has called the GOP “devoid of ideas,” “gasping for air,” and “a very narrow party of angry people.” TNR writes, “[B]y sending Huntsman to China, Obama ensures that Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney remain the chief Republican spokesmen, further alienating the party from mainstream voters in time for the 2010 midterms and even the 2012 elections.”