Huntsman Defends Service to Obama

Jon Huntsman is officially back from China and today used his first public appearance to address Republican tongues wagging about the fact that the most recent boss on his resume is one Barack Obama. "Serve [America], if asked," Huntsman told the University of South Carolina's Class of 2011. "I was, by a president of a different political party. But in the end, while we might not all be of one party, we are all part of one nation." The speech was one of several events the former ambassador to China has scheduled in South Carolina, as he powers up his 2012 presidential campaign, notes Politico.

"I know there are many in China who think their time has come, that America's best days are over. And, there are probably some in this country who have lost confidence and think that China is the next big thing," Huntsman said. "But these people aren't seeing things from my earlier vantage point of 10,000 miles away. The way I saw it from overseas, America's passion remains as strong today as ever." (More Jon Huntsman stories.)