In a pretty unexpected development, the Obama administration is tapping Utah Governor Jon Huntsman to be America’s ambassador to China. One’s thoughts, naturally, flow initially to the domestic politics as Huntsman was one of a relatively small number of prominent Republicans to have avoided a turn to the far-right over the past 12 months and seemed like the guy many progressives thought could best put a politically credible mainstream face on conservatism.
In these terms, though, I think the most interesting calculation isn’t Obama’s but Huntsman’s. You’ve got to figure that Huntsman’s decided that he couldn’t possible win a presidential primary, so he’ll take the gig.
Huntsman, meanwhile, seems very well-qualified. He’s been US Ambassador to Singapore and US Deputy Trade Representative and he speaks Mandarin fluently. The United States isn’t always so good about picking diplomats with meaningful regional and linguistic background in the area they’re supposed to work in, and I tend to favor any break with that trend. Picking a Republican also signifies that for all the problems with the Bush-era foreign policy, the Obama administration recognizes that US-China relations stayed on an even keel and there’s bipartisan commitment to the idea of a constructive, cooperative Sino-American relationship.
Previous in TP Yglesias
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.