A few weeks ago, I wrote a very passionate article just shortly after President Barack Obama won reelection. It detailed the fact that the Tea Party represents a backwards, lying and conniving movement that in no way engages with reality as sane people know it. My point was that I really want bipartisanship in this country, as I think it is how we progress as a society. However, as long as the Tea Party is not only alive, but prevalent within the American Political System, bipartisanship will be an uber-difficult thing to accomplish.
Well at least from the Republican side, bipartisanship will be an exceedingly arduous task, as the Tea Partiers want nothing to do with anything blue, no matter how intelligent a proposal might be. From the Democratic side, this is not so much the case. Over the past few weeks there has been wide media speculation as to who either presidential candidate would choose in his respective cabinet come January. Many names have surfaced, hailing from both sides of the political aisle.
Flawed reasoning has not impeded Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham from assassination attempts on Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice’s reputation. Although she may not have anything to do with the nebulous chain of events in Benghazi that left four Americans dead, she is connected to the Obama Administration, and Republicans don’t seem to fancy that. But even before the GOP attack on Rice, I gave my endorsement for moderate Republican Jon Huntsman to take over Hillary Clinton’s position as the Secretary of State once she voluntarily steps down this upcoming January.
I would like to point out that I am not contradicting my previous column. I will still NEVER vote for a Republican candidate as long as the Tea Party has a pulse. This is actually exactly why it would be such a smart idea for President Obama to choose Huntsman as the man for the job. The Democratic president, not the country, will be selecting Huntsman. In doing so, he will be crossing party lines, as he has done in the past and will again make it transparent to the country, especially the extreme right wingers, that we the people have chosen a man to lead our nation who truly wants what is best for the whole of the country and will not let partisanship interfere with his decision-making.
It is not just that I believe the choice of Jon Huntsman for Secretary of State would be strategically sound. And in fact, that is surely only a secondary reason for making the selection. Indeed, I believe that not only is he well qualified for the position, but that he is also top-flight candidate for it. You may remember Jon Huntsman as a Republican presidential candidate during the Republican primaries two summers ago. He was ultimately destined to fail —and fail miserably he did—because of how moderate he was. He was not willing to assimilate to the Tea Party’s inane value system, and he was not willing to lie about or retract a significant portion of his beliefs like former Gov. Mitt Romney did.
But you may also remember Huntsman as the former ambassador to China, specifically President Obama’s choice for ambassador to China. Mr. Huntsman is also the former governor of Utah, and he has served in White House staffs within the Reagan Administration and under both Bush Sr. and Jr. His moderate views and likable personality have even lent him a favorable synopsis from the leftist news source the Huffington Post. Huff Post details Huntsman as a “conservative technocrat-optimist with moderate positions who was willing to work substantively with President Barack Obama.”
As the Republican Party moves further and further right, Democrats and Independents feel alienated and thus obligated to vote blue during election seasons. This should not be the case. There are at least two sides to any story, and often both sides have good ideas and good arguments. Tragically, the Republicans’ good ideas have been drowned out by the Tea Party’s idiocy.
Appointing Jon Huntsman as the next Secretary of State is a major step in the right direction towards a bipartisan renaissance, and it would signify to the Tea Partiers that not only can Democrats and Republicans work jointly to better our nation, but we will do so. In conclusion, one: I endorse Jon Huntsman as the next Secretary of State of the United States of America, and two: I hope that the entire Tea Party ideology is castigated and exiled to Imagination Land.
Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
