Poor Choice for GOP

In these lazy post-election days, a lot of people are speculating about the future of the GOP. Along with names like Romney, Huckabee, and Palin, another name has been mentioned a few places that I find disturbing. It is that of Utah Governor John Huntsman, Jr. Here's one such mention, from a Washington Post blog:

As The Fix was waiting to meet with Huntsman on Thursday, CNN's Wolf Blitzer was touting him as a rising star in Republican politics. Nice convergence. Huntsman won re-election earlier this month with 78 percent (granted it was in ruby red Utah and has the looks and resume; -- fluent in Chinese, progressive on the environment -- that could make him appealing for a party looking desperately for a different profile.

Here's another mention of him. The appeal of Huntsman seems to come down to his looks, his easy reelection victory, and the fact that he cares about climate change. Maybe looks matter in this day and age, but the fact that he won an election in Utah means nothing from a nationwide political standpoint, and nobody really looks at climate change as a major issue when they hit the voting booth. (Also, who cares who Wolf Blitzer likes in the GOP?)

Furthermore, Huntsman has few principles; he merely does what is politically expedient. Most notably, he campaigned on school vouchers in 2004, but then hung a voucher ballot measure out to dry last year when he saw it was likely to fail. While he wouldn't do commercials for the measure, he had no problem doing climate commercials with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition, Huntsman suffers from Utah GOP disease, in which "conservatism" is only necessary on social issues. Where economics and spending are concerned, Utahns are much more flexible.

And so I attest that Huntsman is not the guy to help Republicans reassert conservative principles. While it is way too early to think about 2012, it is not too early to remove him from your presidential radar.