IT'S ALL ABOUT WINNING

This past weekend Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's decided to withdraw from the race. His candidacy hadn't garnered the kind of voter support that he'd hoped for, and I'm guessing that he decided that continuing with the campaign was not the best use of his time or resources. I can respect his decision. I'm interested, however, in one factor that Republican insiders attributed to his poor showing in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries – his connection with the Obama administration.

In July of 2009, President Obama nominated Jon Huntsman to serve as the United States' Ambassador to China and the former Utah governor agreed to serve America in that capacity. One month later, the U.S. Senate formally confirmed his nomination. Huntsman served in that capacity until resigning his commission in April of 2011, oddly enough, to explore the possibility of running for president.

There's absolutely no reason why conservatives in America should not love Jon Huntsman. He's been a faithful follower of right-wing ideology, a governor with a track record of success and possesses an impressive resume when it comes to foreign relations. So, what gives? Is it that, like Mitt Romney, he's a Mormon? Or, is his lack of success really tied to what G.O.P. insiders claim was his betrayal of party principles by having worked with the Obama Administration? At first blush, the latter explanation seems a bit petty, especially since Huntsman was campaigning to unseat Obama and his administration, but when you consider the current state of Republican ideology, it kind of makes sense.

Senate Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky set the tone of things to come when he stated in 2010 that defeating Obama in 2012 was the Republicans' number one priority. Never mind that millions of Americans were out of work, millions more were out of homes and the number of Americans living in poverty soared. The chief concern of McConnell and his colleagues was to add Obama to the unemployment lines; not to solve America's problems. As a result, Republicans have spent the past two years obstructing any and all Obama administration attempts to better the lives of Americans, hoping to insure Obama's failure in this year's voting booths. Apparently as part of that process, anyone seen as assisting the Obama administration in any manner [like Huntsman by serving as an Ambassador] was automatically deemed shameful and suspect.

Since when is serving America during a Democratic administration a shameful act? Should all our service personnel resign on the first day a Democratic president takes office to avoid being disrespectful? How dare Republicans debase the legitimate sacrifices that those who serve America, both at home and abroad, simply because they were doing during the tenure of a Democrat! The idea is downright offensive!

Even today, as the Republican slug-fest continues on stages across South Carolina, the chief topic is who is best positioned to defeat Obama, not an in-depth analysis on why G.O.P. policies would supposedly solve America's problems. It appears as if Republicans aren't really concerned about bettering the lives of all Americans. They're just concerned about winning, and the rest of us are going to have to suffer because of it.