Huntsman addresses future of American politics, encourages students to serve their countries

Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah and 2012 candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, criticized partisanship and encouraged students to go into politics in an address before a full house in Dodds Auditorium on Friday.

Huntsman’s extensive political career includes tenures as the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore and later to China. Huntsman also served two terms as the governor of Utah and most recently ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2012 election before dropping out of contention in January.

On Friday, he urged a new generation of students to enter into the world of politics to serve their countries. Huntsman first moved to Washington in 1987 at the age of 27 to work as a staff assistant in the Reagan administration.

“I can’t underestimate to you students here how critically important it will be to infuse your energy, your intellect and your worldview into politics as soon as you can get there,” Huntsman said. “We’re sort of stalled right now in terms of global growth and leadership ... That’s where we are, and we’ve got to do something about it.”

Throughout the lecture, Huntsman criticized the partisanship he said that characterized the American political landscape.

Huntsman himself is no stranger to what he called the “vicissitudes of presidential politics.” During his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, he was praised by notable Democrats including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Nonetheless, this hint of bipartisan support was speculated to actually have undermined Huntsman’s support within the Republican party.

“One of the greatest challenges we have is not an external challenge. And it isn’t about Iraq, and it isn’t about Afghanistan. It’s about us here at home and about how divided we have become,” Huntsman explained. “We seem to park ourselves down these little alleyways of life and feed ourselves with information that only reinforces our own biases.”

Following his remarks, the former governor first responded to questions from Wilson School professor Tom Christensen, who worked with Huntsman while serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Huntsman then responded to a handful of questions from students in the audience.

In response to a question regarding his views on the failure of the Manchin-Toomey Bill — which proposed to expand background checks on gun purchases — to pass the Senate, Huntsman was non-committal.

“Well you have to say, what would the outcome have been if you take the money and you take the special interests out of the equation? I think we would have had a different outcome,” he said.

Huntsman will have to face such questions should he choose to reenter the political arena as a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 election. In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Huntsman did not say whether he planned to run but noted that “I don’t love the country any less now than I did when I ran.”

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Nonetheless, speculation of potential candidacy has arisen as Huntsman has pursued an increasingly busy speaking schedule. Before delivering his address at the Wilson School, Huntsman spoke at Duke, Harvard and Georgetown and was recently announced as the University of Washington’s commencement speaker.

Despite his illustrious history, Huntsman also joked that he hadn’t been immediately drawn to a life of public service. Before graduating from high school, Huntsman dropped out to play the keyboard in a rock and roll band known as “Wizard.”

“I’m just a failed rock and roll musician. That’s all I wanted to do. And I did my best, and we didn’t make the big time,” Huntsman said, laughing. “And so what do you do as a failed rock and roll musician? You go into politics.”