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As Jon Huntsman launches his 2012 White House bid today, he also begins the official process of introducing himself to the nation. Here are five questions for him as he gets going.
Will you be tough enough? Huntsman has indicated he will run a campaign of civility and stay away from name-calling while sticking to the issues. All fine and good. But if anyone needs to be calling Obama by name, and taking clean hard shots at the President’s failed policies, it would be the candidate who worked for him. Tim Pawlenty’s perceived lack of toughness has not served him well. Huntsman should learn from that, especially since he already labors under suspicions that he's too much of a polite establishment type. Riding around on motorcycles isn't enough.
Will you have distinctive ideas, things you are for, that will make you stand out from the others? Huntsman has made clear in statements about Afghanistan that we should bring troops home, that we shouldn’t stay and play “traffic cop.” He opposes Pawlenty-ish growth targets, telling Ramesh Ponnuru he prefers instead for government to “create the environment for growth” (a rather standard Republican line), and he favors a hands-off approach on pressuring China on its currency, believing the issue will take care of itself. So far, Huntsman seems to have characterized himself through an avoidance of strong stances on issues. Where he has been clear, such as on entitlements, it’s been to back someone else’s idea (the Ryan plan). The question now becomes, what will be the thing that sets Huntsman apart, that makes him worth paying attention to? Can he paint a picture of a future people want to live in?
What do you know about job creation? Apparently, Huntsman knows quite a bit, given the impressive 6% job creation rate Utah enjoyed while he was Governor, spurred as it was by definitive actions involving tax cuts and other measures. The question now becomes how this translates into a national strategy. Voters are hungry for a compelling jobs agenda, yet Republicans on the trail and in Congress have done little to persuade the public that they know what to do. Huntsman has an opportunity to explain what he understands about growth. Will he capitalize on that?
How will you be the un-Romney? Let’s face it, the two guys have a lot in common in ways that don’t exactly recommend them to an energized, grassroots conservative electorate: they are rich, they share a faith that makes people uncomfortable, and they look more like characters you’d cast as President in a movie than the raw, unvarnished candidate that moves voters these days. It seems that Huntsman’s biggest opportunity out of the gates is on health care. He should differentiate himself based on the consumer-oriented reforms he pursued in Utah, which the Heritage Foundation has called a model for the other 49 states. Of course, to be effective, he would have to call out Romney by name...
How will you kill the RINO? How Huntsman does on the foregoing points will have a lot to do with how he persuades an already skeptical group of conservative activists that he hears them, that he shares their passion, and embodies their animus. But it won’t be enough. Even though the base of conservative voters is energized by economic and fiscal matters, his softness on social issues is part of an overall caricature that is already forming that he needs to kill starting today if he hopes to succeed: that he’s soft in general. He won’t go after Obama forcefully, he won’t finish the job in Afghanistan, he won't be a staunch defender of the family because of his moderate views on civil unions, and so on. A non-confrontational establishment Republican won’t get far in a Republican primary these days.
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