Huntsman Can't Win Over the GOP in 2012

David Frum wants to support Jon Huntsman, and I can understand why: In David’s view, Huntsman promises to be the reform-minded Republican, a conservative who is interested in public policy and governance.

I agree that this is the big Achilles heel of the Republican Party: Its policy cupboard is bare. What, after all, are the great and innovative ideas that the GOP now espouses and promotes?

The answer: who knows?! Shopworn clichés about less government, lower taxes and fewer regulations have become substitutes for real thought. And so, a willingness and ability to use the levers of government to effect conservative public policy goals is now seriously lacking.

And that’s Huntsman’s problem: Even if he wanted to be the reform-minded Republican that David yearns for – and is it by no means apparent that Huntsman aspires to fulfill that role – it is not at all clear how, exactly, he would achieve that.

I mean, what ideas would he embrace; what causes would he champion; what policy innovations would he espouse?

Here at FrumForum and elsewhere, I have promoted one long overdue idea: military modernization, especially for our ground troops.

Why, after all, should a 19-year-old teenager have better communications capabilities than a 19-year-old Soldier or Marine? And why should our troopers be sent into harm’s way in combat vehicles that were designed in the 1970s?

Unfortunately, no one in the Republican Party wants to talk about increasing the military modernization budget. In fact, that’s become almost a taboo subject in this era of defense downsizing.

Will Jon Huntsman champion military modernization? There’s no evidence that he will, I regret to say.

In short, Huntsman may have the best of intentions; but if he aspires to be a reform-minded Republican, then he’s gonna need a lot more substantive public-policy ideas in his political quiver. He’s gonna need a lot more help and support from right-leaning think tanks.

By 2016, such help and support may be forthcoming, finally -- especially if the GOP loses the 2012 presidential election. (Political necessity, after all, is the mother of public policy innovation.) Still, that does little for Huntsman right now, in this election cycle.

Huntsman has another big problem, which has manifested itself here at FrumForum and in the legacy media: He is perceived as being the “liberal” or “moderate” GOP candidate, especially on social issues and on the environment.

Now, I know that endears him to some of my FrumForum colleagues; but as a practical political matter, in a GOP primary fight, this is the kiss of death. Somehow, someway, Huntsman needs to depict himself not as the “liberal” or “moderate” Republican, but as the “reform-minded Republican” like Congressman Jack Kemp.

Unfortunately for Huntsman, that’s easier said than done. But if he ever wants to win the Republican nomination for President, then he absolutely must escape the taint of being a GOP squish or RINO.

The bottom line: Huntsman in 2012? No way, no how. But Huntsman in 2016? Maybe, but politically speaking, that’s light years away. We’ll have to wait and see.