Jon Huntsman's Exit Speech

The only adult competing in the presidential race (and I include our current President in that statement) has been forced out.

Mr. Huntsman's exit speech is worth listening to in its entirety.  I suspect it may come back to haunt us some day as the stern warning of a sane man watching his country sink into the abyss.

Some quotes:

"Now, as candidates for our party's nomination, our common goal is to restore bold and principled leadership to the White House.  Leadership that will re-ignite our economy and renew the American spirit.  Yet rather than seeking to advance that common goal by speaking directly to voters about our ideas to rebuild America, this race has de-generated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people, and not worthy of this critical time in our nation's history."

"... the current toxic form of our political discourse does not help our cause.  And it's just one of the many reasons why the American people have lost trust in their elected leaders....Let's invest our time and resources in building trust with the American people and uniting them around a common purpose."

"This nation was built on unity and trust.  Trust in each other.  Trust in a revolution that gave birth to the freest and most prosperous nation the world has ever known.  Trust in our system of government.  That sense of unity and trust has sustained us through world wars and national tragedies.  Now we need it to sustain us during this hour of need."

The message remains: Country First.

I'm not a Republican (and probably never will be), but regular readers of Deafening Silence will recognize similar ideas about national unity in my posts.  (See here, and here, for starters.)  I did not agree with all of Mr. Hunstman's policy ideas, but like the crowd that cheered his remarks during the New Hampshire debate, I was persuaded to take a serious look at the only candidate declaring:"Country first!"

I find the current Republican reaction to his concession speech very telling.  Some pundits found it puzzling that he would criticize the Republican party.  Others declared that they were so offended by his warning that they had to switch it off.  Still others couldn't understand why he would criticize the party and then endorse its leading candidate.

All of these reactions reveal observers drowning so hopelessly in the political storm that they can't see over the edge of the teacup.  The incessant demand to appeal to the most rabid, radical parts of the Republican base will only result in unelectable candidates.  The temporary high of touting "pure" dogma will leave Republican ideas permanently theoretical as voters flee to other candidates.  Mr. Huntsman's endorsement of Mr. Romney was lukewarm at best.  He first acknowledged the large space between their ideas and then only described Mr. Romney as the Republican candidate "best equipped" to defeat President Obama.

But best equipped compared to what?  A serial adulterer who once shut down the entire U.S. government, a memory-challenged Texas governor (nicknamed "the Haircut" in his own state) who forgets parts of his own platform during televised debates, an elderly crank who would be 76 years old at the time of the inauguration and who admits he can't imagine sitting in the Oval Office, and a religious zealot who thinks the key to American recovery is to ban birth control devices.

Yes, compared to that motley crew Mr. Romney certainly is the best-equipped candidate.  Compared to that bunch, he looks like Winston Churchill.

The Republicans have ejected the one man who might have collected enough centrist, Independent and even Democratic votes to deny President Obama a second term. (If you don't believe me, google a list of news stories about Huntman and read the comment threads.) Instead they will select from the remaining field the person who will appeal to the narrowest slice of the "base," and then wonder why it's so difficult to win the Presidency.  They will never understand that the real difficulty is that they have been putting Party first, not Country.

And throwing away the best chance they had to reclaim the Oval Office.

 

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[Jack]

Jon Huntsman's Illuminati Ways!