Huntsman to be Ambassador to China

I read this evening that Obama will be appointing Utah Governor Jon Huntsman to be Ambassador to China. Now I don't agree with Mr. Huntsman on a lot of things, but he's known as being a moderate Republican, and everything I have ever heard or read from him has been quite impressive despite our differences in political opinion.

It's hard to say who this favors most. Obama and the Democrats potentially gain significantly by putting one of the few moderate Republican leaders a few thousand miles away. Yet Huntsman's career is far from over, and when you read about his background, this position makes perfect sense:

Huntsman, a two-term governor, is fluent in Mandarin Chinese from his days as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan. One of his seven children, Gracie Mei, was adopted from China in 1999 after she was abandoned in a vegetable market.

Hard to argue with making him ambassador, but I don't see it helping the Republicans at all. That said, they seem to be moving toward the right more than the middle right now, so perhaps now is not the right time for him to step up anyway. And maybe they wouldn't have seen him as their leader anytime soon...or ever. Still, not a good sign for those that want this to be a center-right country (instead of a right-right country).

Torture Part II

Two weeks ago I argued that President Obama should issue pardons to members of the Bush administration that had a role in our sanctioning of torture. In today's NY Times, Al Hunt suggests idea that's along the same lines:

This, then, is one of those rare occasions that necessitate a special commission of prestigious members with full authority to issue subpoenas. Its jurisdiction should include the use of torture and other cruel or inhuman treatment that violate the Geneva Conventions, as well as rendition and surveillance. Anyone who testifies before that panel — as the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Patrick Leahy, suggests — should receive immunity from prosecution. Transparency and accountability are the objectives, not criminalization.

The goal is truth, and while it excuses potential criminal acts, it also safeguards us against a political disaster, and sets us on a moral path forward.

Lincoln's Character

This is a passage from Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals. I came across it again today, and it's a good example of why this site's moniker comes from his name.

In 1908, in a wild and remote area of the North Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy, the greatest writer of the age, was the guest of a tribal chief “living far away from civilized life in the mountains.” Gathering his family and neighbors, the chief asked Tolstoy to tell stories about the famous men of history. Tolstoy told how he entertained the eager crowd for hours with tales of Alexander, Caesar, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon. When he was winding to a close, the chief stood and said, “But you have not told us a syllable about the greatest general and greatest ruler of the world. We want to know something about him. He was a hero. He spoke with a voice of thunder; he laughed like the sunrise and his deeds were strong as the rock…His name was Lincoln and the country in which he lived is called America, which is so far away that if a youth should journey to reach it he would be an old man when he arrived. Tell us of that man.”

“I looked at them,” Tolstoy recalled, “and saw their faces all aglow, while their eyes were burning. I saw that those rude barbarians were really interested in a man whose name and deeds had already become a legend.” He told them everything he knew about Lincoln’s “home life and youth…his habits, his influence upon the people and his physical strength.” When he finished, they were so grateful for the story that they presented him with “a wonderful Arabian horse.” The next morning, as Tolstoy prepared to leave, they asked if he could possibly acquire for them a picture of Lincoln. Thinking that he might find one at a friend’s house in the neighboring town, Tolstoy asked one of the riders to accompany him. “I was successful in getting a large photograph from my friend,” recalled Tolstoy. As he handed it to the rider, he noted that the man’s hand trembled as he took it. “He gazed for several minutes silently, like one in a reverent prayer, his eyes filled with tears.”

Tolstoy went on to observe, “This little incident proves how largely the name of Lincoln is worshipped throughout the world and how legendary his personality has become. Now why was Lincoln so great that he overshadows all other national heroes? He really was not a great general like Napoleon or Washington; he was not such a skilful statesman as Gladstone or Frederick the Great; but his supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar moral power and in the greatness of his character. 

“Washington was a typical American. Napoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world. He was bigger than his country — bigger than all the Presidents together. “We are still too near to his greatness,” Tolstoy concluded, “but after a few centuries more our posterity will find him considerably bigger than we do. “His genius is still too strong and too powerful for the common understanding, just as the sun is too hot when its light beams directly on us.”

Tankers and Speedboats

While we're all caught up in first hundred days fever, it probably makes sense to take a deep breath and realize that President Obama still has a full four years ahead of him (minus 100 days, of course). Time magazine has an article on the president and his staff's "first semester grades", a ridiculous piece that jumps the gun on judging this administration. There's a little write-up for each, but here's a quick snapshot:

• Obama, Biden, Clinton, Gibbs, Axelrod all come in with A minuses
  
• Michelle Obama and Robert Gates both get an A+
• Geithner, Holder, and Nancy Pelosi range from C- to B-
• Republican congressmen and 2012 candidates are in the Bs and Cs as well.
  

Trying to grade anyone three months in is a mistake. The only person we have enough information about to rate at this point is Robert Gates (who I think is appropriately ranked). For everyone else, Time is basically converting approval ratings into grades, which tells us nothing. We have no idea whether any of the Obama adminstrations policies will actually work. I'm inclined to think that just about everyone is graded too high, and for Geithner in particular, we haven't seen enough to make an educated analysis.

An Obama quote summarizes our current state pretty well: "Moving the ship of state is a slow process. States are like big tankers; they're not like speedboats. You can't whip them around and go in a new direction." I don't think we've completely changed directions yet, and our biggest problems will take the longest to judge. The economy, in particular, is harder to move than the rest of the state. Foreign policy can change quickly because so much of it is simply about the tone you use with the rest of the world (though still difficult to see results). The economy, however, cannot be changed by shaking hands with Hugo Chavez and making some trips around the globe. It is the biggest ship we have, and more concerning, we don't even know how to turn it in a new direction. Geithner is tinkering with the steering wheel and an assortment of cranks and levers...and that's about all we know at this point.

Anyhow, considering the 100th day as a significant milestone is obviously arbitrary, and we really have no idea how the next four years are going to turn out. The one thing that I do feel confident in is the tone of this administration, but while that certainly helps, it does not create results in itself. We're still in 2 wars, the economy is still a mess, we're no closer to resolving our healthcare problems, and a variety of other challenges loom ahead of us. I'm not saying that the Obama administration should have fixed these by now. I'm just saying it's a little early to give any of them an A (and I'm as big of an Obama apologist as anyone). While we've seen a lot of quick moves out of the administration's speedboats, the big tanker is still turning and it's impossible to yet say that it is going in the right direction. The best we can say is that the captain and crew seem to be keeping calm amidst a storm.