Whoops, wrong video, sorry about that! 🙂 Actually, this is the video of President Obama introducing Jon Huntsman as his new ambassador to China, back in May 2009. A few months later, Huntsman wrote glowlying to Obama, “You are a remarkable leader – and it has been a great honor getting to know you.” Yep, we’ll see how that one plays in the Republican caucuses and primaries.
We’ll also see how Huntsman’s strong support for “a new energy economy, a green energy economy,” his signature on the “Western Climate Initiative,” and his recognition of climate change and that “we must put a value on carbon” (e.g., a carbon tax or “ultimately a cap-and-trade system“) will play with the right wingnuts who vote in Iowa, South Carolina, etc. And, we’ll see how Huntsman’s support for an “individual mandate“ will go over with the aforementioned wingnuts. And we’ll see how the tea partiers like the fact that, as governor, Huntsman (according to the Cato Institute) “completely dropped the ball on spending, with per capita spending increasing at about 10 percent annually during his tenure.”
I mean, put it this way: can a guy who people like Barack Obama and I think is moderate, even progressive in some ways, make it in today’s off-the-rightwing-deep-end Republican Party? Will Huntsman have to completely reinvent himself, a la his buddy (lol) Mitt “Before It Before He Was Against It” Romney? For the sake of the once-great Republican Party, I sure hope the answer is “yes!” We’ll find out soon enough.
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