Jon Huntsman

UPDATE: Politico, like always, doesn't pull any punches in their analysis: China pick sidelines GOP moderate.

“Brilliant,” said GOP strategist Mark McKinnon of the appointment. “Keep your friends close and your enemies in China.”

Ambinder calls it a "masterstroke". And here's Andrew Sullivan:

Don't under-estimate Obama's policial cunning, guys. But for those of us with some small hope of restoring decency and moderation to the right, this is a major blow. What Obama is doing is bringing all the sane conservatives  - from Crist to Huntsman to Gates - into his orbit. And Cheney gets to be the the face of the GOP future.

The Los Angeles times has the story this morning:

Reporting from Washington -- President Obama today reached into the Republican ranks for a key foreign policy position in his administration, tapping Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to be ambassador to China.

Huntsman's hometown Salt Lake Tribune has a great package of stories if you're interested, including remarks by the president, the transcript from the announcement, and a preview of Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert. No surprise, Herbert is portrayed as more a doctrinaire Utah conservative than his boss. From a few blocks down South Temple, the Deseret News notes that Huntsman's departure should be good for Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson, among others.

I've posted about Huntsman on this blog since March, when he first went public with some daring policy positions which, I felt, had the potential to shake up the 2012 presidential primary. Someone who's willing to make forward-thinking challenges to the status quo will be a big deal, in my opinion.

Does sending Huntsman to Beijing end any 2012 hopes?

Huntsman is a fluent Mandarin speaker, thanks to his LDS mission in Taiwan in the early 80's. He served as ambassador to Singapore at one point, and has been shortlisted for a number of diplomatic posts in Asia for years. The Deseret News also notes the regular trade missions Huntsman makes to Asia on behalf of Utah.

Another Huntsman note: Less than two weeks ago, Huntsman formalized a relationship with John Weaver, as reported by Mark Ambinder.

Among the informal strategic advisers to potential 2012 presidential aspirant Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. (R-UT): John Weaver, formerly the chief strategist to Sen. John McCain. This is a sign that Huntsman is thinking seriously about his future. It's also a testament to loyalty: Huntsman was one of the first governors to endorse McCain and refused to withdraw his endorsement during the dark period of the Republican nominee's campaign.

What do we think? Is Huntsman alive or dead (anymore than he was before)?

Chris Cillizza has argued that the Iowa Supreme Court decision that established gay marriage might disadvantage moderate candidates in the 2012 GOP primary. Cillizza notes that Heartland Iowa, a lefty Iowa blog, lays out a timeframe that would include a November 2011 ballot initiative that Nate Silver seems to think would be close, but the pro-traditional-marriage forces would prevail. (I have to say, I wonder what the presence of married gay couples does to his model)

UPDATE: This even happening would require getting it on the ballot, which would require the cooperation of the Democratic legislature. I kinda doubt that'll happen, don't you?

Anyways, back to Cillizza:

Assuming that time line is right, the fight over the constitutionality of banning same sex marriages would fall right in the heart of the run-up to the 2012 presidential caucus.

And, with the Republican caucus typically dominated by social conservatives, you can imagine the long-term impact today's ruling could have on the presidential jockeying.

At first glance, the decision should help candidates -- like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- who are closely aligned with the social conservative wing of the Republican party.

He then argues that this could really hurt Jon Huntsman:

One person who could potentially be hurt by today's ruling is Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) who has staked out a moderate position on the issue -- expressing his support for civil unions earlier this year despite the fact that large numbers of Utah voters oppose the idea. "I'm a firm believer in the traditional construct of marriage, a man and a woman," the governor told the Deseret News. "But I also think that we can go a greater distance in enhancing equal rights for others in nontraditional relationships."

Let me offer another thought. This could lead to a further minimization of the Iowa Caucus. My understanding is that Mitt Romney, who must be considered the front-runner, is already trying to figure out how to avoid Iowa or somehow reshuffle the deck. A number of candidates could reasonably try to skip it.

Iowa Republican Party politics will be very, very interesting over the next couple of years. I expect this to be ask much solved by the rules guys and party officials as by actual voters. But that's really the point of caucuses, isn't it?

As the party struggles to find its way, is Jon Huntsman, the Utah governor, something new?

From Jonathan Martin's profile in March 1's Politico:

Huntsman thinks the party's challenge is more profound, owing less to its excessive spending practices during the Bush era than to sweeping demographic and political changes that threaten to consign Republicans to a long-term minority status and confine their appeal to narrow sections of the country. 

The party needs to be more intellectually rigorous, and to compete for the votes of the young, the elites and minorities, he said in an interview with POLITICO. To do so, the GOP needs to tack toward the middle on environment, gay rights and immigration. And, yes, Ronald Reagan is to be admired – but as much for his oft-overlooked pragmatism as for his conservative principles.

And then Huntsman went out and did this on February 9:

Here is a sentence you probably never expected to read: Utah's governor supports civil unions.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a spokeswoman said Monday, backs Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative, a legislative effort that would provide some rights to gay and transgender Utahns. Even more, the Republican governor favors civil unions.

It's a position that runs counter to his political party and against the majority of Utahns -- 70 percent of whom oppose civil unions, according to a recent Salt Lake Tribune poll.

"He's long supported many of the ideas that are presented within the Common Ground Initiative," said Lisa Roskelley, the governor's spokeswoman, noting her boss waits to endorse specific bills officially until presented to him in final form. "He supports civil unions."

Other soures worth a read:

• Politico, February 24: The Politico Interview: John Huntsman
   
• U.S. News & World Report, May 22, 2008: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Jon Huntsman Jr.
   
• Washington Times, February 24: GOP governor: Congressional leadership 'inconsequential' (VIDEO)

The future of our party will be based on what happens in the laboratories and incubators of democracy. Make no mistake about it. If we build real solutions, based on real ideas, that are deliverable to the people, who then register their satisfaction -- good for the state, good for the country, good for the party. That's not gratuitous rhetoric; that's delivering something tangible to the voters.

Huntsman went to Utah and the Wharton School. He served his LDS mission in Taiwan and speaks Mandarin. He ran his family's business interests, and was the elder George Bush's ambassador to Singapore.

Huntsman won two statewide elections with 57% and 77% of the vote in our most conservative state. There aren't many better conservative bonafides than being the LDS governor of Utah. If you do that, you're probably pretty conservative.

And according to Wikipedia:

Huntsman is also a self-proclaimed fan of the progressive rock genre and on July 30, 2007, attended a concert by progressive metal band Dream Theater...Huntsman also joined REO Speedwagon on the piano for two songs during their concert at the Utah State Fair on September 16, 2005.

What do we think?

Somehow this story seemed befitting of "Turkey Day'. An ambitious Republican signs up with a Democratic oriented agenda of taxes, spending and regulation.  

Evidently to Utah's Jon Huntsman, the new administration is just what America has been waiting for on energy policy. 

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081127/energy_western_governors.html?.v=2

Western governors: 'Obama, act quickly on energy'

We must not repeat the mistakes of the past," says the letter signed by association chairman, Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah, and vice chairman, Democratic Gov. Dem Brian Schweitzer of Montana. "The future of our nation depends on it."

 

 

 

Among the recommendations are annually spending tens of billions of dollars to develop clean energy technology; establishing an 'aggressive' greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal to help stop global warming; and proposing a mandatory national system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through "market-based mechanisms."

If I recall correctly, efforts to pass "cap and trade" in the Congress died a quick and quiet death. There's never been a vote on Kyoto. The proposal by Canadian Liberals to pass a carbon tax contributed to their worst drubbing in decades. And, hmm, is there something like a recession going on which might suggest higher taxes and consumer costs might actually wreak real damage on real people?

But Jon Huntsman learned from John McCain that if you don't have a base inside the Republican Party for which to run for President, you can get one outside the Republican Party by playing up to the news media. The news media is convinced we are facing an immediate environmental apocalypse; hence they are looking for a Republican greeniac. Governor Huntsman has decided to fill the bill.

Now, I'm hearitly in favor of building a clean free market energy economy. But we ought to do someline akin to the Pickens plan because it makes economic sense to stop enriching adversarial states; not because someone shows a movie with a polar bear on an ice floe. And what this green first approach does is play into the hands of every statist, antidevelopment group out there who wants to see the economy grind to a halt to punish "big business". Not to mention "cap and trade" will be a bureaucratic tax machine likely to crush much of the economy; particularly under Obama's auspices.

I also think it displays incredible chutzpah (folks out west may need a dictionary for that word)to declare oneself an authority on energy issues when your state hardly has any oil wells. Hmm, maybe the Governor whose state actually produces oil might be a more relevant spokesperson?  

Some people are big on saying how wonderful Jon Huntsman is, and how he is going to be the future of the party.  Sorry. we already had Mitt Romney and John McCain run in 2008. This guy seems nothing more than a mash-up of their less attractive features. 

Thought I'd post this little AP story about the big Governor's Global Warming summit, where the once promising Arnold Scharzenegger joined a host of other RINO and Democrat governors in endorsing a grandious solution to the global warming problem.

Hey, what's $500 billion a year between friends?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081120/ap_on_re_us/schwarzenegger_summit_10

Now, with the Dow in free fall and GM on the verge of shutdown, you might think there are slightly more pressing immediate problems than whether the temperature in 2050 is going up 0.2C or 0.4C?...especially for the Governors of the epicenter of the financial crisis (NY) and the auto crisis (MI)....naw, got to make sure the media get their "green" moment while their constituents lose all their green.  

By the way, it's mid November. Tomorrow's weather forecast for central CT is a high in the 30's with snow showers http://weather.courant.com/US/CT/Meriden.html.

Central FL has a freeze warning for tonight http://www.weather.com/weather/alerts/localalerts/USFL0163?phenomena=FZ&significance=W&areaid=FLZ036&office=KJAX&etn=0014

Guess that too is an "Inconvenient truth".