Saturday, February 12

A Mormon President?

When Mitt Romney was running for President back in 2008, I scoffed at the mere possibility of a Mormon president. However, as time as progressed and members of the LDS Church are becoming more politically powerful in the Conservative world, I find the likelihood of a Mormon getting elected to grow increasingly probable as time goes on. Doubtless shows such as Big Love have helped in this regard, making it clear that Mormons aren't evil, don't have horns, and only have one wife.

When Jon Huntsman Jr. was selected by Barack Obama to be the Ambassador to China I considered it a bold political stroke for both men; by removing a serious contender, Obama is much more likely to be elected. By placing himself in such a prominent and political position as the Chinese Ambassadorship, Huntsman placed himself in a prime position for running for president in 2016. As time went on, though, the likelihood of Obama being re-elected seems to have slowly declined, so that now most pundits seem to think he'll lose. With that looming, Huntsman waiting would mean waiting until 2020, something he obviously isn't willing to do, as he quit his position in China and is throwing his hat in the ring. Here's the question:

Do you think Huntsman can win the Republican Primaries? If so, could he win the general election? Why/why not? Consider his policies, his politics, his wealth, and (particularly) his competition.

3 comments:

  1. Well, he's certainly got the money! The question is, how will he stand up to scrutiny? Romney lost a lot of voters when they said he flip-flopped on policy.

    As a governor I thought he was decent; the question is how much exposure and political clout will a governor from Utah have?

    He didn't stay ambassador for long; what is his work history? I'm not sure of his competition. Is Romney running again?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Polls indicate that Romney is a leading candidate...

    ReplyDelete
  3. He does have the money. He doesn't have the same issue as Romney with flip-flopping, his biggest issue will be defending his more moderate stances against the Tea Party.

    As far as his resume goes, he has worked as an ambassador in the past and he has done some significant corporate business in China.

    As for Romney, well... he has the issue that he lost before, so the campaign against him has lots of ammunition.

    As for political clout from Utah, the traditional answer is "Not much," but when you look at the numbers for the last few elections, the Mountain West is rapidly becoming the stronghold of the Republican Party.

    ReplyDelete