Romney in the Race, Huntsman at His Heels

Hearing Mitt Romney announce his candidacy during the Republican primaries for the 2012 presidential election, I got the impression that Barack Obama feels a wave of reassurance.

Since the November elections, the has president benefited from an environment of favorable conditions: six months without bazooka attacks from enemy forces.

John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, tried to have a “responsible” attitude toward during the negotiations on the national debt so that the Republicans wouldn’t be continually accused of being the “party of no’s.”

In terms of candidates, no one jumped to the podium, waiting to find out how the economy would fare, if the momentum is still on the side of the Tea Party, if Sarah Palin will run, etc. After bin Laden’s death, several contenders threw in the towel.

The ex-governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, finally stepped into the race today. While making his candidacy official, he held a combative discussion, attacking the Obama administration as it “has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace” and taken “inspiration … from the capitals of Europe.”

Nothing too ruffling, but we haven’t heard down-home country talk in a while, or a speech centered around jobs and the economy.

Knowing the draw of new (some say “virgin”) candidates for the American voter, the most interesting candidate seems to be Jon Huntsman. Barack Obama, who knew his intentions, sent him to China as ambassador, but he returned the day after the midterms and is clearly pursuing a pre-campaign warm-up. The ex-governor of Utah, Huntsman took up residence in Washington, D.C. and has been receiving persistent reporters and photographers.

He also has been focusing his campaign message around the economy. Unlike Romney, however, he is for international disengagement, including with Libya. Like Romney, he is Mormon (but his wife isn’t and his children go to Catholic school).

Jon Huntsman is 51 and has to his name several tens of millions of dollars due to his father’s fortune. He has all the attributes to make a breakthrough in the media: an unnaturally large family (10 children, two of whom are adopted from Asia), a peculiar expertise (speaks fluent Mandarin) and a special passion (not the electric guitar like Mike Huckabee, but the motorcycle).