Democrats, independents, republicans: Huntsman's resume is still the best.

Congratulations to Jon Huntsman for refusing to sign the pledges that are spreading like kudzu among the republican presidential candidates. The pledges ransom the candidates loyalty in exchange for releasing financial support. Sign up and get paid. Only a person with minuscule business experience would agree to sign a pledge not knowing all the facts. 

The candidates do not know all the facts. They are not the CEO yet. They are not privileged to CIA information, detailed budget data, military situations, national security issues, and a host of other bits of critical information that are necessary to make an intelligent decision. Signing a pledge in a vacuum of information is more a sign of weakness, caving into the ransomer’s demands, than it is a symbol of integrity, which many of the candidates vainly hope to demonstrate by their signature on the ransom line. Huntsman refused to sign. 

Huntsman has global business experience. He understands the complexity of decision making and the importance of having all the information prior to taking a position. He is not caving into the ransomer. And I say, “Good for him.”  Further, Huntsman understands the history of the democrats and the republicans at over-promising and under-delivering. It is this jaded history that is a primary reason that Americans distrust politicians. As one late night host likely said, "I believe the sad state of jokes about politicians is that most of them are all true." And that brings me to the egregious democrat and republican label.

Jon Huntsman is a conservative. He has been accused of being a democrat because he  worked for Obama. And that is the problem with labels. They are supposed to mean something. Other than the fact that some organizations, in a singular affront to the democratic process, blindly instruct their members to vote for candidates from a certain party; and that unfortunately the members blindly comply, party labels should be trumped by individual candidate distinctions. The challenge for Huntsman is to deliver a message that his global business experience distinguishes him as a superior candidate and a superior CEO. 

Why? Read the news. Watch TV.  Listen to the radio. The business of America is no longer only America’s business, it is a worldwide business. For example, Thomas Friedman is credited with the phrase “A Flattening  world,” but I believe his point might have been that America must be careful not to be flattened in the process. Recently, China and Japan both loaned America more money, bringing the total dollars we owe them to approximately 1.5 trillion and a billion dollars respectively. 

I am not suggesting the blue sky is falling, even though gold is rising, or even that America is in danger of these countries demanding their money back. I am suggesting that the financial connections and absolute dependence of America on other countries, demand a president with genuine worldwide business and political experience, not just a few business or vacations abroad. Huntsman is the only candidate that brings that genuine experience to a flattening world. His resume is still the best.