On a bone chilling Sunday evening in January, here in Chicago, I logged into Facebook only to discover former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has dropped out of the 2012 GOP presidential race.

                News of Huntsman dropping out isn’t at all shocking to me, as this was expected for quite some time.  He didn’t campaign in Iowa much at all, but instead, adage to an old cliché, put his eggs in one basket.  That basket was none other than New Hampshire where prior to the final debate before the primary, he was polling in 5^th and 6^th place.  After the final debate before the New Hampshire primaries, much like Santorum in Iowa, Huntsman began to surge with virtually no media scrutiny to boot.  While the momentum carried him into a 3^rdplace finish, it apparently wasn’t enough for him to stay in the race.

Photo of former Gov. Jon Huntsman-Associated Press

            Now here is the shocking news.  According to ABC News, Huntsman is scheduled to make a formal announcement later today, at 11AM, to formally withdraw his candidacy, but to also endorse Mitt Romney?  No, this is not a typo ladies and gentlemen.  The former governor will be throwing his support behind former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney.  This endorsement follows a heated exchange that took place just a mere 7 days or so earlier between the two candidates, which also provoked Huntsman to speak to the Massachusetts governor in Chinese.  Translated into English, he is quoted as saying…”You just don’t get it.” He goes on to exclaim to Romney the next day during the Sunday morning debate…

“I was criticized last night by Gov. Romney for putting my country first,” Huntsman said. “He criticized me, while he was out raising money, for serving my country in China, yes under a Democrat, like my two sons are doing in the United States Navy. They’re not asking what political affiliation the president is.”

“I will always put my country first and I think that’s important,” Huntsman said. 

Romney’s repsonse…

“I think we serve our country first by standing for people who believe in conservative principles and doing everything in our power to promote an agenda that does not include President Obama’s agenda,” Romney said. “The decision to go to work for President Obama is one which you took, and I don’t — I respect your decision to do that. I just think it’s most likely that the person who should represent our party running against President Obama is not someone who called him a remarkable leader and went to be his ambassador in China.”

And finally, Hunstman comes back and states… “This nation is divided because of attitudes like that.”  He received a very good reaction from the crowd and closes by stating “They have had enough. There is no trust left among the American people and the institutions of power and among the American people and their elected officials.”

            Now Huntsman is throwing his support behind Mitt Romney, with whom he just quarreled with on matters of principle? I find this to be quite ludicrous and would never take anything Huntsman says seriously at this point.  Integrity used to count for quite a bit when voting for someone.  One who possesses wisdom, knowledge, integrity, along with a good American spirit, which projects liberty and goodwill onto others around them, were very important character traits to have once upon a time.  Just looking at the track record of Mitt Romney as Governor alone should be enough evidence there that he lacks many of these traits.  You want to talk about being untrustworthy?  It is well known how often Mitt Romney changes his position on issues as often as a person changes their shoes and socks.

            So on the cusp of a time where we, the American public, have a built up trust deficit for our public servants, Jon Huntsman endorses one of the most untrustworthy GOP candidates within the 2012 race? To sum it all up, this endorsement makes no sense to me at all, and if you can convince me differently that Romney is the guy who is best suited to help get this country back on track, you’d be a miracle worker.  From every report I’ve read and interviews I’ve seen, the ‘Romney module of thinking’ is exactly what is wrong with this country.  Helping to ship American jobs overseas is counterproductive to the GDP of our economic system as a whole.  Good job Romney! Well Mr. Huntsman, endorsing Gov. Romney, are you really continuing to put your country 1^st?

A Valente Journal,

-Lorenzo.