Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Jon Meade Huntsman Jr.is an American politician, businessman, and diplomat who served as the 16th Governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009, and as United States Ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1993, and China from 2009 to 2011. He has served in the administrations of five U.S. Presidents and was a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. In January 2014, Huntsman was named chairman of the Washington-based foreign policy think-tank the Atlantic Council...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth26 March 1960
CountryUnited States of America
For those of us who have lived abroad and seen our nation in a highly competitive 21st century, and kind of see where this world is going - unless we are able to strengthen our core, we're going to see the end of the American century. And that is totally unacceptable.
I'm not sure it's the stimulus money that will necessarily allow the economy to recover. It will help to fortify our budgets, frankly, to ensure that there isn't as much backsliding in the areas of education and healthcare, for example.
In our own state, we came up with, I think, what was a very novel approach to closing the gap on the uninsured. To harmonize medical records - which was a major step in getting costs out of the system.
And the trajectory that our debt is taking now beyond $14 trillion is going to have an impact on our currency. It goes south, and our currency's going to have an impact on our standard of living and affect every family in this country, and over time, our international competitiveness.
I don't think you need to run down someone's reputation in order to run for the office of president.
The rest of the world cares about how we conduct our affairs because they then take that lead. Were the only leader in the world today. Some are wishing us well, others think that were down and are not going to get back up again, but they are all watching with great interest to see how we conduct our business over the next couple of years.
Today, I'm a candidate for the office of president of the United States of America. My kids can't believe I just said that.
I’ve been married for 29 years. My marriage has been the greatest joy of my life. There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love.
If we can't find cuts in the defense budget, we're not looking carefully enough.
It's taken a lot of presidents to get us where we are today, a lot of deployments, a lot of wars, a lot engagements. You add them all up.
The real secret about diplomats is that we're trained to say something, when there is nothing to say, and to say nothing when there is something to say.
With a weak and rotting core, you don't have much of a foreign policy. You're discounted at the negotiating table, economically and militarily. So when people ask what's the best course of action for the U.S.-China relationship, I can give you ten academic responses. But the reality is we need to rebuild our core.
Our political debates today are corrosive and not reflective of the belief that Abe Lincoln espoused back in his day: that we are a great country because we are a good country.
Politics is a lot of serendipity. You're in the right place and the right time and you've got the right message, and it either connects for you or, or it doesn't.