Obama to name Huntsman ambassador to China

[Frodo]

Yes, obviously. 

[big bad fab]

Huntsman may well have a fine period as ambassador during 3 years and come back to run in the GOP primaries, with an interesting international experience, maybe with a speech on defending poor American workers against Chinese industries.

As a governor with a high approval rating, he'll quit at the right moment and will be remembered as a good executive.

Can you have a better profile in 2012 ?

More relevant in 2016, though. The 2012 Presidential election looks like a longshot for any Republican unless something goes wrong with a ticker or someone does a John Wilkes Booth.

Sure, I agree with you on the quite likely result of 2012 elections,

but, being one Huntsman, you may well try to become the GOP candidate, to be beaten by Obama but not too much, to reach a better result than expected and so, becoming the GOP's saviour, you have no problem at all in being chosen in 2016 against too much conservative Jindal and Thune.

Some candidates in the past tried one or more times before succeeding in !
Not much, granted... Very few, in fact...
But I've been just trying to show that Huntsman is not out for 2012...

[LINCOLN REPUBLICAN]

No, Obama did not name Huntsman Ambassador to China to remove him as a potential competitor in 2012.

Anyone who looks at Huntsman's qualifications will realize that he is supremely qualified to be Ambassador to China.

He speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, has had trade experience in government, has had executive government leadership in the capacity of Governor, and is a proven organizer and leader.

Clearly Obama wants this key assignment handled by someone capable of delivering the goods, and Huntsman has the proven record and the ability to do so.

Obama has made some of his appointments, at least, without partisan consideration, this among them, and for this he is to be commended.

This appointment follows Lincoln's example of naming the most qualified, whether they have been a supporter in the past or not.   

Besides, I do not believe that 2012 will be a good year for any Republican Presidential nominee.  2016 will be much better.

[pbrower2a]

No, Obama did not name Huntsman Ambassador to China to remove him as a potential competitor in 2012.

Anyone who looks at Huntsman's qualifications will realize that he is supremely qualified to be Ambassador to China.

He speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, has had trade experience in government, has had executive government leadership in the capacity of Governor, and is a proven organizer and leader.

Major qualifications indeed! Not many Americans not of Chinese origin speak fluent Mandarin, and I'm not sure that I would trust a native speaker of Chinese as Ambassador to China (the Foreign Ministry would play the nuance game with such a person.

Clearly Obama wants this key assignment handled by someone capable of delivering the goods, and Huntsman has the proven record and the ability to do so.

Obama has made some of his appointments, at least, without partisan consideration, this among them, and for this he is to be commended.

In a huge departure from his predecessor, Obama shows that he does not need flunkies in the most important jobs in the US government. Huntsman will absolutely not be a flunky. I can't imagine a more important diplomatic post.

This appointment follows Lincoln's example of naming the most qualified, whether they have been a supporter in the past or not.

Besides, I do not believe that 2012 will be a good year for any Republican Presidential nominee.  2016 will be much better.

Indeed. I don't think that any sensible person wants 2012 to be a good year for a Republican nominee for President. We have drifted into dangerous times because of the economy alone, and we aren't going to drift out of dangerous times. A Republican winning the Presidency in 2012 indicates not so much the rise of a supremely-talented and relevant Republican nominee as it does a catastrophic failure by Barack Obama.

If Obama creates a strong GOP candidate for the Presidency in 2016 in Jon Huntsman, then so be it. We might need a strong Republican nominee for President in 2016.

[N.i.K.]

Obama is a crafty bastard.

lol yeah

Anyway, this should silence the Huntsman!!!! talk.

[pbrower2a]

Anyway, this should silence the Huntsman!!!! talk.

But not the Huntsman 2016 talk!

Obama may be creating a strong GOP candidate for the Presidential race of 2016 -- not what a  partisan hack would do, but instead what one might do if one were more concerned about ensuring the validity of the opposition within a democracy.

[Mr. Morden]

Interesting story on Huntsman here:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=bf9098d4-6b65-480f-b5dc-0ffb56844eb1&p=1

A few of the more interesting bits:

This past weekend, Obama nominated Huntsman to be ambassador to China--essentially undermining any chance that the young, moderate Republican would challenge him in 2012 by sending him to another continent for the next few years. Almost everyone I spoke with in the State Department and Utah politics confirms that the decision was not driven by Huntsman's China expertise or business experience. "We all thought it was going to be [former State Department counselor] Wendy Sherman," says one source in the State Department. "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."
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Still, the appointment appears to make a lot of sense for Huntsman. It also, of course, makes perfect sense for Obama. Sources in the State Department say that while Wendy Sherman was the front-runner for the post, the Obama camp was concerned that she was too focused on North Korea (she was the North Korea policy coordinator under Madeleine Albright) and that she was too close to Clinton. And since Timothy Geithner will be handling much of the administration's economic relations with China, the next biggest item on the agenda is collaborating with China on climate change. "The focus will shift to environment," the State Department staffer says--an issue on which Huntsman is particularly qualified. Huntsman's experience as a politician will also help him sell some of Obama's pragmatic China policies back at home.

But it is no coincidence that the impetus to appoint Huntsman came from Obama's political staff, not the State Department. It is unlikely that Obama actually felt threatened by a Huntsman run--but at the very least, confronting him in a campaign would have been tougher than running against some of the more right-wing GOP contenders. And on a broader level, by 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. Appointing Huntsman also helps Obama shore up his bipartisan credentials after the failed debacle of his Judd Gregg appointment.

In fact, perhaps the only loser in Huntsman's appointment is the Republican Party itself. In light of Arlen Specter's defection and Tom Ridge's decision not to run for his Senate seat, the clear message is that there is no place in the party for moderate voices. Huntsman's departure clears the way for Romney to continue his ascendancy to front-runner status, unencumbered by the presence of another wealthy, Mormon, business-savvy technocrat in the race.