A Major Coup

President Obama just took a potential 2012 rival off of the chess board.

Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. (R) will be introduced today as President Obama's choice as ambassador to China, a source familiar with the decision said last night.
Huntsman, 48, was mentioned this spring as a potential Republican contender for the White House in 2012, and Obama's former campaign manager recently suggested that he is a rising force in the GOP.

Several Salt Lake City media outlets reported last night that Huntsman had accepted the offer to head the U.S. mission in Beijing, and that Lt. Gov. Gary R. Herbert would replace him as governor. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Huntsman was in Washington last night, but that calls to his spokeswoman and various staffers were not returned.

Huntsman was elected in November to a second term as Utah's governor, drawing 70 percent of the vote. He served in the George W. Bush administration as deputy U.S. trade representative from 2001 to 2004 and, for President George H.W. Bush, was ambassador to Singapore. He is an expert on China, and he speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently.

Now make no mistake, there are major benefits for Jon Huntsman in this move also. I believe he can see the writing on the wall when it comes to his own party. Right now they are going through a purity purge and the truth is in 2012 its likely they won't have any room for moderates. So his running for the Presidency in 2012 would have probably failed in the primary. However a lot of people believe that at some point his party will get tired of losing and wake up to the realization that if they no longer elect moderates then they will no longer be sustainable as a national party. You combine that with the experience he will gain as being ambassador to the country we are most reliant on right now in terms of financial dealings and you have the makings of a strong candidate in 2016. But there is no way for the GOP to spin this as anything other than an indictment of the state of their party. And at the same time it gives President Obama even more bipartisan cred and burnishes his reputation of being a person who isn't afraid to work with his rivals. WIN!