Did the GOP Force Huntsman to China?
Since the 2008 election, Republican leaders have been playing an odd game of musical chairs. Mitt Romney has altered the game so that instead of running when the music starts, he sits calmly in his gold-covered chair, only shifting his position when it comes close to election time. Sarah Palin gave up her chair, but she claims she can play the game (even better) without one. Newt Gingrich prefers book-publishing to chair-chasing, but his supporters have saved him a chair anyway. And Michael Steele is currently redesigning the chairs in the hope that his bottom will be the only one that properly fits.
But despite these antics, the game still mirrors the one played in first grade—one player loses a chair each round when the music stops.
For Bobby Jindal, the music stopped just when it should have started—during his rebuttal to President Obama’s State of The Union. Mark Sanford lost his chair somewhere in the Appalachian Trail, and John Ensign lost his chair despite the best effort of his parents.
This week’s dropout is Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.—President Obama’s pick for ambassador to China.
Unfortunately, Huntsman is exactly the type of competent conservative that the Republican Party needs. Evidence? According to the Pew Center on the States, Utah is the “The Best Managed State in the Nation.” In May 2008, Forbes Magazine named Salt Lake City one of the top 10 “recession proof cities,” and it goes on to describe Utah as the second best state for business. Throughout most of his tenure, Huntsman held approval ratings above 80 percent, and he won reelection in 2008 with 77.6 percent of the vote. Governor Huntsman is intelligent, has strong conservative credentials, is free of controversy, and, as an added bonus, he is wealthy enough to make his own waves.
National recognition of Huntsman had just begun to grow prior to Obama’s appointment. The Washington Post and USA Today both named him as one of the “top Republicans” in the months following the election, and the New York Times called him one of the leaders of “New Republicanism.” Prominent figures ranging from John McCain to John Kerry acknowledge Huntsman as a competent, knowledgeable, and eloquent leader.
So what happened?
First, and most obviously, President Obama nominated Huntsman to be Ambassador to China—and when the President asks you to serve in a position of high importance, it’s hard to say “no” even if he is of the other party. Some commentators say Obama deserves praise for ignoring party line to pick a Republican, but as Andrew Sullivan and others have pointed out, the nomination could be seen as an Obama stratagem to eliminate a strong 2012 rival.
Second, Huntsman’s decision to leave the United States and Republican politics is partially self-motivated. The Governor has long had an interest in China—he served a two-year LDS mission in Taiwan and has returned to China and Taiwan many times on behalf of the United States government. After a year spent as the ambassador to Singapore (1992-93), he lobbied for the Chinese embassy—a wish that has now come true. Furthermore, if Huntsman does have an eye on the oval office, 2012 is not the right year. The field is already crowded with leftovers from 2008, and Mitt Romney is firmly entrenched as the “Mormon candidate.”
The third and final factor contributing to Huntsman’s departure, and the one most important to this site, is the attitude of the Republican Party. David Frum has previously noted on this site that the Party may not yet be ready for Huntsman’s brand of moderate Republicanism. This became especially apparent after the Michigan Kent County Republican Party “unvitation” due to Huntsman’s endorsement of civil unions and the following reasonable statement:
We must embrace all citizens as equals; I’ve always stood tall on this.
The Republican Party also continues to display a sad skepticism toward members of the Mormon (LDS) faith. Mike Huckabee did a masterful underhanded job of painting Mitt Romney as a cult member—Governor Huntsman would face the same charge if he moved into the national spotlight.
If the Republican Party has played a role in casting out one qualified leader, let’s make sure we don’t unjustly eliminate any more—heaven knows there are already too few chairs left in the game.