I don’t know all that much about Huntsman other than the fact that he served in the Reagan, GHW Bush, and GW Bush administrations in various capacities and that he was elected and then overwhelmingly reelected as Governor of Utah, a pretty conservative state.
Why Obama would choose Huntsman as an ambassador, and why Huntsman would choose an Obama appointment I don’t know. But from what I could tell about Huntsman, I don’t think serving as his campaign manager in 2004 (when he was running and campaigning as a conservative republican in a conservative state) and briefly serving as his chief of staff is a huge negative. In 2004 and 2005, I doubt anybody would have predicted that Huntsman would be appointed to an ambassadorship by an empty suit senator of a president with the most liberal (albeit limited) voting record in history.
"All I know is, 90 percent of the scientists say climate change is occurring," Huntsman told Time. "If 90 percent of the oncological community said something was causing cancer, we'd listen to them." - Jon Huntsman
Huntsman is no conservative. Who sold this bill of goods to Utahns? It was a hell of a sales job. He's a rock star! He's popular! He's a mormon millionaire! He's a progressive. Thank God his replacement, Gary Herbert, is the real deal.
Wait. Did I mention that Chaffitz was his campaign manager and chief of staff? Somebody sold all these eskimos iceboxes. Catch the drift?
Gosh, don’t you really want to like everything about Chaffetz? I do.
My spidey sense is ringing really loud. Be careful what you wish for. JMHO.