Just finished reading a HuffPo piece on Jon Huntsman and his thoughts on the Republican primary and his party’s shortcomings. I’ve always viewed Huntsman as far and away the most rational of the Republican nominees. Unfortunately, he was much too rational for a political party where right-wing fanaticism ruled and science had become little more than a four letter word. Any chance Huntsman had of winning the Republican nomination ended the day he tweeted the following:
How warped was Republican’s thinking during the primary? Well, one can say with a fair amount of certainty that had the primary come down to a choice between Jon Huntsman and the amazingly ignorant Herman Cain, pizza man would have taken it. Here’s how Huntsman now views those heady days of lunacy.
Some do it professionally. Some were entertainers. I looked down the debate stage, and half of them were probably on Fox contracts at one point in their career. You do that. You write some books. You go out and you sell some more. You get a radio gig or a TV gig out of it or something. And it’s like, you say to yourself, the barriers of entry to this game are pretty damn low.
With Bachmann, Cain, Santorum and Gingrich in the running, “pretty damn low” is an understatement.
Some are now floating the idea that President Obama should choose Huntsman to replace Hillary as Secretary of State. It’s an idea definitely worth considering.
Huntsman on foreign policy:
We used to be the party that put out wars: Eisenhower, Korea; Nixon, Vietnam; Reagan, the Cold War. And here we talk about starting wars. That’s all Republicans on the defense side seem to want to talk about — not negotiating a way forward diplomatically, as we had under earlier Republican administrations, but always falling back on the war option as if we haven’t had enough over the past 12 years.
As much as I’d love to see Susan Rice get the nomination because: a) she’s as qualified as any to fill the post, and b) just to stick it to John McCain who has solidified his bitter old man persona with his ridiculous Benghazi stance, a Jon Huntsman pick would work on many levels.
- he has the respect of most Democrats so confirming him as Secretary of State would not pose much of a problem
- his position on foreign policy matches the President’s and Huntsman’s years as Obama’s ambassador to China shows that the two can work together
- bipartisanship would get a major boost
As much as the GOP deserves every bit of scorn and criticism that’s been thrown their way by the left, they still are the choice of half the nation. President Obama’s bipartisanship efforts over the last four years have not gained him any favor with wingnuts but now that he’s been given a second mandate, a willingness to bridge the great divide between left and right is well worth the effort.
As for people like the conservative who wrote the following in a HuffPo comment, let them rant on in their shrinking world. Responsible decisions should never be governed by what the crazies perceive as truth.
There was only one issue in 2012 – would America’s leeching Takers continue to be allowed to rent seek off of our Makers at the point of a government gun.
After three quarters of a century of the advance of socialism under the guise of our growing social democratic state, the Takers finally won the political war – with Huntsman the RINO advocate for appeasement.
From here on, the war must move to non-violent, extra-democratic means to destroy the social democratic state and restore freedom to all Americans … and Huntsman, the accommodationist to socialist ambitions, has no place in this revolution.
He and America as we have known it are history.
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I had this same thought yesterday. I think he’d be great. Is he under consideration?
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I’d be OK with that. I honestly don’t expect him to keep the (R) next to his name much longer anyway.He has his shortcomings, but he was the most level headed and reasonable of all the Republican candidates this past year. He also has a ton of experience with the world at large. If he took the job, it would likely kill his conservative support, but it would be a GREAT move for the good of the country. I would hope he would weigh that carefully.
Sorry folks but Huntsman is too sane to ever be confirmed by the “get Kerry out of the Senate” bunch of repugs.
They firmly believe that driving Rice out will put Kerry in as SOS and Scott back in the senate.
I read that piece, also, and agree about Huntsman. Kerry needs to do his country a service and come forward and announce that he would not accept the position of SOS, even if offered – so they will stop attacking Rice or any other possible. I sent my Texas money to Warren’s Mass. campaign – to get her in and Brown out. The public voted him out – he needs to stay out of DC.
Kerry can wait until Hillary gets in in 2016.
As to that ranter, I read through that first paragraph 3 times, and still do not understand what he/she was saying. I realize it’s un-American now to know how to spell correctly in the right-wing world, but when did coherence become something bad?
Back in the saddle, eh?
I rather like this idea, but does Jon have other creds besides China to recommend him?
He praised the President as he left his China gig…much to the dismay of his party…I agree he may not share the R with them for much longer.
My heart is with Rice but I’m not sure if the President will go for the controversy…and the delay. John Kerry may just be the political loser here, I hope, now that the 3-headed opposition’s little ruse to recreate Senator Brown has been exposed. OR…I’m wondering if the MA D Party is working on another strong candidate to run v. Brown…that could be a real coup!
Again, I hate seeing men end their remarkable careers with public disgrace…just go away quietly McCain, into the dark night.
Does anyone know if one or two senators can put a hold on Rice and keep her from being confirmed, or does it just take a majority vote to get her in?
Huntsman would, I think, be a competent Secretary of State (note, too, that would put him fourth in line to succeed to the presidency), but as to his political future, I adopt a wait-and-see attitude. There’s a very small chance that the Republican Party could come a bit more in touch with reality by 2016; what’s more likely is that they will simply drift and lose influence. Given the caliber of who appear to be the up-and-coming frontrunners (e.g., Ryan, Rand Paul, Cantor, Rubio, Walker, Kasich, Christie) the latter is more likely, and there mey even be a further slide into wingnut territory. There are also the hangers-on to consider, given that the Republicans never seem to cook their old ducks, despite the fact that they are nibbling the party to death.
Either way, Huntsman in 2016 has something of a problem. Republicans have already shown that they do not and will not support him, and Democrats may be reluctant to support someone who switches parties so soon before running in their party. We may be getting closer to the day when an independent can be a credible candidate, but there’s a lot of debris to sift following the collapse of the Romney campaign.
It’s entirely possible that the delusional optimism towards the Romney victory that never came was fueled by the intoxicating success of the 2010 elections and the years of obstructionism. A coherent idea of what’s ahead for 2016 probably won’t be possible until the 2014 midterm elections are over.
I’ve never seen Obama take the easy route and Rice seems to be the right choice. Although Kerry did help Obama in the last election,he doesn’t have the credentials that Rice possesses. I am proud of Rice on her strong objection at the UN on the Palestinian vote and the truth was put out efficiently.Kerry as was previously said is more a match with Clinton.
I like Huntsman but I would rather he be as the UN ambassador because of his past consular experience. We would cross the bipartisan path and have him gain more international experience.
The way things are going on the fiscal cliff,it would be great if Democrats could have solutions that could shut up the conservative HuffPo commentator. Democrats are never in the news on the fiscal challenge and Republicans are stating to own it. Republicans still think they have leverage and the extreme right wing wingnuts need to be put aside.Otherwise,a recession may be looming that may hurt the FORWARD movement.
“Holds, like filibusters, can be defeated through a successful cloture motion.” So, they won’t do this without enough votes to defeat the hold.
Add to the conversation the fact that Hillary hasn’t said when she will retire, which could be a factor with the new Congress.
If Reid proposes and passes new rules for holds on appointments along with filibuster reform, it will become a moot point. Wouldn’t THAT be a smart idea. We might have many more judges employed and serving the public.
Occupy…”The way things are going on the fiscal cliff”… the President would say “Relax, I got this covered”. He’s out gathering support among voters, ASKING US TO CALL OUR CONGRESSMEN (have you?) to urge them to pass the 98% tax cuts NOW and the Republicans, especially McConnell, are complaining…not a good sign for them…”me thinks they do complain too much”.
They’re in a bind and they know it…the President has laid out his expectations and they’re going to take to the mic early and often, until they either agree or send us BRIEFLY over the so-called cliff, at which time the new Congress will take it up. Not a bad scenario according to many.
Even Republican voters poll well in support of raising the 2%’s taxes. I’ve learned to (try to) worry less and wait it out. The President wants more stimulus and more refinancing help…he has no intention of allowing them to stall our FORWARD progress and I have confidence in his long game. As you said, he doesn’t do “easy”…we just need to be patient.
occupy: there’s a great read by Steve Benen@MaddowBlog this morning about negotiations on the “cliff” ; )
Seems the President has learned how to deal with the Republicans.
It still is a little surprising to me that Maine Sen. Susan Collins would enter the Ambassador Rice/Benghazi witch hunt along with the other Republican 3 stooges.
Ms. Collins along with Olympia Snow were usually known as the little bit more “fair headed” of the Republican Senators.
I heard, through the grapevine, of some rumblings of people wanting to replace Mitch McConnell with Susan Collins, but that seemed to die down rather quickly so who knows if Ms.Collins is serious or playing some sort of ‘attention getting” politics like McCain. Graham and Ayotte.
Anyway, Huntsman is definitely too sane to be a Republican, I hope he can be of some service to this administration.
I honestly believe that if Republicans had had the foresight to choose Huntsmann instead of Romney, he would be President-Elect right now. We Democrats were fortunate that they didn’t and Republicans scoffed at Huntsmann as a nominee instead.
Sorry Fidlerten,
I am sure Hunstman went out because of the crazy tea party members and would never have succumbed to their policiesWhich is why he discontinued the race..The loss of this election by the Republicans will cause them to get rid of the extremists and Huntsman will then come back to kick the can if he doesn’t come to the Democratic side.He is a better fit with Democrats in his thinking.