The Post and Courier just posted an article about Jon Huntsman in Daniel Island, SC — he was right down the street from the parents’ house giving a speech. I wish I could have been there!
DANIEL ISLAND — Switching from a “New Hampshire accent to a Southern accent,” Republican Jon Huntsman told 100 breakfast diners Thursday morning that he would draw on his experience overseas to create manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
The former Utah governor and an ambassador to Singapore for George H.W. Bush and to China for Barack Obama said the nation is on the “cusp of a manufacturing renaissance” and that he’s the only candidate with the international knowledge to take advantage of what he called a crack in China’s stranglehold on the industry. He said the business environment in Asia is deteriorating because of political mistrust, inflation and unemployment.
Bolstering the United States’ manufacturing role would shrink an economic deficit rather than passing it on to this grandchildren, he said.
“This deficit … is a cancer metastasizing in our country,” he told voters as they nibbled on French toast, grits and cheese omelets at Honeycomb Cafe. “We’ve got to radiate it. We’ve got to excise it. We’ve got to cut it out to preserve our next generation.”
In addition to the economic deficit, Huntsman said the nation suffers a deficit of a different kind, “a deficit of trust” of politicians and companies. He vowed a “Grateful Dead-like concert tour” to persuade people to get behind term limits for members of Congress and to stifle politicians’ ability to trade stocks based on inside knowledge of legislation that affects Wall Street.
He again leaned on his foreign policy experience in boosting trust overseas, as well as reducing U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, where he stressed intelligence-gathering over a large troop presence.
But Huntsman, clad in dark blue jeans, cowboy boots and a lapel featuring the U.S. and South Carolina flags, referred to himself as a “crass political salesman” to the diners and admitted that he just wanted their votes. His wife standing behind him, Huntsman spoke for about 30 minutes and answered a half-dozen questions from the crowd about topics like job creation, health care and Iran’s threat as a nuclear power.
“I’ve always been following him,” said one voter, 67-year-old Alana Knuff of Daniel Island. “He has the leadership qualities, the foreign experience. But I just came to see how personable he is.
“After seeing him personally, he’s got my vote.”
Others, such as 65-year-old Bill Estes, who splits his time between Iowa and Daniel Island, said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s “machine” would “leave Huntsman in the dust.” Estes said that he wanted to hear more specifics on policy, such as those pertaining to taxes and that Huntsman’s plan to remove troops from Afghanistan was soft.
“To be elected, you have to be walking on the edge, but he’s not,” Estes said. “He’s way in the safe zone. He’s not a risk-taker, and I’d like to see him take some risks.”
Shaking hands with the assembled crowd members, Huntsman said he was re-energized by his showing in the New Hampshire primary earlier this week.
“When you come from O and get to third place, that’s pretty good,” he told one man. “I’d say that’s a ticket out of New Hampshire.”
