Huntsman withdraws his campaign, endorses Romney...

Hi friends

Jon Huntsman, one of the top-6 Republican candidates, announced his decision to withdraw from the Presidential Race, a few days ago. He did not campaign in Iowa, and had staked virtually everything on making a strong showing in New Hampshire. The breakout moment that eluded him, and his poor showing (a 3^rd place) did not do good to enhance his image as a candidate likely to beat President Obama.

Jon Huntsman for 2016?
 Let's pray he makes a comeback!

“The race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people,” Huntsman said at a press conference in Myrtle Beach, S.C. “I call on each campaign to cease attacking each other and instead talk directly to the American people about how our conservative ideas will create American jobs.” His withdrawal from the race came the morning after he received an endorsement from The State, the largest newspaper in South Carolina. They called Mr Huntsman and Mr Romney the "two sensible, experienced grown-ups in the race'', but said the former ambassador was "more principled" and offered "a significantly more important message''.

And so he did. When he was criticized by Romney himself for working for the Obama Administration as the Ambassador to China, he replied "Yes, under a Democrat. Like my two sons are doing in the United States Navy. They're not asking what political affiliation the president is.I will always put my country first." - the last two words became the campaign slogan for Jon. Unfortunately, that does not resonate well with the Republican Base.

A brief look at his profile shows that Jon Huntsman was a very different Republican Candidate, one of the good guys, one of the sane guys. In the 1990s, he became the youngest head of a US diplomatic mission for a century when he was appointed ambassador in Singapore. He was attacked for reasons that did not relate to his policy. He was called a “stooge” of the Obama administration and “The Manchurian Candidate” because of his being a former ambassador to China, a position to which he was appointed by none other than President Obama. An ambassador to every country works for the parent country, not any given administration. All federal employees owe their loyalty to the people, not the guy who hires or appoints them (who after all is there on our behalf). This stint also showed him as one of the most sensible candidates (in the last 2-3 elections) on U.S. foreign policy, including toward Asia. While Newt Gingrich imagined the Palestinians to be an “invented people” and Rick Santorum wanted to bomb Iran as soon as possible, Huntsman took a more moderate approach, which perhaps proved to be his undoing. He was criticised for adopting children from India and China, and bringing them up in their original religions. As the Diplomat put it quite clearly, “It was probably this refusal to pander to the Republican base that meant he failed to gain any traction in the primaries”. Perhaps the race had one Mormon too many.

The Atlantic blames the conservative media and Jon’s own campaign strategies for Huntsman’s withdrawal. He, quite simply, was a pragmatist. Although he stood out from the rest of the Republican presidential pack as an intelligent voice of reason, diplomacy and international expertise, these were simply the wrong times for him to have stood for the President of the USA. As the Diplomat put it, his withdrawal cuts serious by half. Jon Huntsman was popular enough with independents and even with some liberals. Had he been nominated, he would have given President Obama some serious competition, thanks to his record.

What next?

  

His exit from the race leaves five candidates remaining: Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich as the three main candidates chasing Romney's lead, and Rick Perry trailing in the polls. Polls show that even South Carolina's (whose primary is scheduled for the 21st of this month) conservative vote has not yet settled on one particular candidate (just like the ones in Iowa and New Hampshire).

Gingrich, Santorum and Perry have all suggested that Romney's campaign is benefiting from the fractured social conservative support base. With the departure of Jon Huntsman, the “Anybody-But-Mitt” movement looks more toothless right now. And with Santorum, Perry and Gingrich refusing to budge, it would take some real miracle to stop Mitt Romney’s nomination.

Note: There is a very interesting article that came in the BBC News titled “Are the Republican candidates all crazy?”, a question that does come to mind when you think about Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry in detail. One of the reasons mentioned was that most of the serious candidates were ducking the fight in 2012, not willing to inherit an economy that would take years to recover. Perhaps it was wrong time for Huntsman too, he would have made a fine President I guess. I wanted to write about this too, but then the article serves its purpose well enough hence sharing it.

Varun Reddy.