After a series of interviews and tweets last weekend, presidential candidate Jon Huntsman blew up the media spotlight for criticizing fellow GOP candidates.
Huntsman, the two-term governor from Utah who resigned two years ago to accept President Obama’s appointment as the United States Ambassador to China, made several bold claims.
First, that he believes in evolution.
Second, that he believes in the human impact of climate change.
The statements came as a pushback to Gov. Rick Perry’s, R-Texas, questioning of both theories.
Many journalists and political pundits have since pointed out that these are not very bold claims at all, but rather mainstream beliefs — demonstrating the very radical nature of the GOP today.
Sadly, basic respect for science and knowledge has fallen by the way side in order to garner the far-right Christian and evangelical votes, making Huntsman look like a fringe, “protest” candidate.
And by fringe, I mean normal.
The bottom line about Huntsman is that he is smart and practical. He has a copious and diverse amount of experience serving the government and participating in foreign relations.
And because of it he has no chance of winning the GOP nomination for 2012, according to the general media consensus. Something has clearly gone wrong.
Andrew Sullivan, blogger for The Daily Beast wrote, “Huntsman has a prophetic role in this campaign if he chooses to adopt it: the truth-teller. His chances are so slim, he loses nothing by speaking this candidly.”
A straight-talker, finally. A prophet indeed.
In fact, the last time a presidential candidate spoke this rationally, he wasn’t a real person; he was a character on "The West Wing."
On an interview for ABC’s “This Week,” Huntsman said he worries that the GOP could become the “anti-science party” and thus disqualify the party from any chance of winning the 2012 presidential election.
I disagree; it certainly appears possible for a radically conservative Christian to be elected president of the United States. Just look at the current GOP contenders.
I just wish he were right.
And Huntsman’s criticism didn’t stop there — he also called out his entire party for the debt ceiling fiasco.
According to CNN, Huntsman questioned the trustworthiness — and even the sanity — of the congressional members of his party who considered letting the country default on our debt a few weeks ago, in other words, all of them.
“I thought it was the height of irresponsibility," he said on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight.”
"We're 25 percent of the world's GDP … you can imagine what the marketplace would have done in response … It was complete lunacy for people to even talk about that."
For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was listening to a “voice of the people.”
Huntsman is the type of politician that everyone, regardless of personal views, should listen to. But politics in this country have become so polarized that the perimeter has inverted on itself. Sadly, he will probably remain on the “fringe” of modern politics: the center.
Reach the columnist at djoconn1@asu.edu
