Jon Huntsman, the disappointment

Erza Klein expresses his disappointment with Huntsman, who initially appeared promising as the GOP moderate:

Huntsman has offered the Republican Party a generic conservative platform minus the partisan swagger. He’s polite. He dutifully served in the Obama administration. He wrote complimentary notes to the president. He eschews rancor. His daughters are running a charming campaign on his behalf. He has combined Paul Ryan’s positions with Ned Flander’s personality. He’s the conservative you can bring home to mom. The problem is that the Republican field already has a generic conservative who is reasonably polite and electable. His name is Mitt Romney.

In many ways, Huntsman's willingness to oppose generic conservative viewpoints – notably, his acceptance of the consensus on climate change and the science behind evolution – could have made him the Republican to win over enough voters on either side of the aisle. Instead, we've seen none of the flair one might have hoped for in Huntsman.

Where's the guy who's going to stand up to the GOP's predictable ideological douchebaggery? There's a special niche there for Huntsman. What a shame that he didn't take the opportunity to fill it.

(Image: Joe Burbank, Pool / AP Photo, via the Daily Beast)