Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman is adhering to a novel 2012 campaign strategy: running for president without criticizing the incumbent by name.
Since returning from his post as ambassador to China last month, Huntsman has made scant mention of the man who appointed him in May 2009 — President Barack Obama. And, according to Politico, his would-be campaign officials say that won’t change when the ex-governor officially launches his campaign.
Obama’s political team has so far returned the courtesy. Even as they blast out a seemingly endless stream of attacks on Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, Huntsman’s two establishment GOP rivals, the Democratic Party is issuing few press releases and pushing little opposition research about the man who until the end of April served in the administration.
Here’s how Politico reports the story: “That amounts to a de facto non-aggression pact that is as unconventional as it is tenuous. With a Republican primary electorate convinced Obama is doing grave damage to the country, it’s difficult to see how bloodless rhetoric about the administration and generalized talk about America’s challenges are the recipe for victory. And if Huntsman emerges as a strong contender, it’s improbable to think that a White House that affirmed his political potential by dispatching him to far-off Beijing would let him rise unchecked.
“For now, though, the Republican is seeking the mantle of the civility candidate, and one of his top aides said the velvet hammer policy applies not only to Obama but to other GOP presidential hopefuls.
“’He’s not one to tear anyone down by name, whether that person is Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Gov. Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama,’ said Matt David, likely to be Huntsman’s communications director. ‘I think he’ll make it clear where he disagrees when it comes to policy and where he wants to take this country, but for him this is a campaign based on substance and not names.’
“As exotic an approach as it seems for the modern political era, Huntsman has been insistent about his intent to keep the debate on a high plane.
“’I’m sick and tired of the divisiveness and if I go down in defeat talking about it, so be it,’ he said on the stump last weekend in New Hampshire. ‘I feel pretty passionately about it. We lack a sense of respect and humanity in our debates in this country.’
“Such rhetoric may resound with a segment of the Granite State’s independent electorate, as well as the time-to-get-serious centrist punditocracy.”
Count me in that second category.
