Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is mulling a bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, said President Obama has “failed on the economic front.”
“On the economic side, there are no signs of success, very little,” Mr. Huntsman said in a taped interview broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The criticism of Mr. Obama marked a shift toward a more partisan message from Mr. Huntsman, who until about six weeks ago served as Mr. Obama’s ambassador to China. In speeches and appearances, the undeclared candidate has generally avoided taking shots at his former boss, or even at his potential rivals in the GOP field.
“You look at unemployment, you look at the environment in which jobs supposedly can be created, when you look at the debt level and you look at all the economic indicators, it would suggest that we’re in bad shape,” he said.
Mr. Huntsman has been campaigning heavily in New Hampshire, but he is skipping Monday’s GOP debate there and declined to officially announce his run during the CNN interview, though he did say he and his family are prepared for a run.
Possible 2012 presidential hopeful and former Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., of ... more >© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
David Eldridge joined The Washington Times in 1999 and over the next seven years helped lead the paper’s coverage of regional politics and government, Sept. 11, and the sniper attacks of 2002. In 2006, he was named managing editor of the paper’s Web site. He came to The Times from the Telegraph in North Platte, Neb., where he served as ...
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