Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman — who’ll formally announce his candidacy for president later this morning — is out with excerpts of the speech he’ll deliver at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ.
The short version (of the short version): If we don’t do something now, the America we know and love is doomed.
Huntsman has suggested he’ll run as the nice guy candidate, staying away from direct attacks on his fellow Republicans and even President Obama, whom he worked for until the end of April as Ambassador to China. But the excerpts of the speech point to a campaign message that’s straight out of Republican 2012 central casting: America is teetering on the edge of ruin, and Obama’s not the man to save it:
And we must make hard decisions that are necessary to avert disaster. If we don’t, in less than a decade, every dollar of federal revenue will go to covering the costs of Medicare, Social Security and interest payments on our debt. Meanwhile, we’ll sink deeper in debt to pay for everything else – from national security to disaster relief. Our country will fall behind the productivity of other countries. Our influence in the world will wane. Our security will be more precarious. The 21st Century then will be known as the end of the American Century. We can’t accept this, and we won’t.
Huntsman will say America needs “Leadership that knows we need more than hope.” The nation needs a president who “knows we need Answers.”
It’s not the fire and brimstone of other Republican candidates’ attacks on Obama, but it’s a similar message: Another term for Obama is a step in America’s decline.
“We’re not just choosing new leaders. We’re choosing whether we are to become yesterday’s story or tomorrow’s,” he’ll say. “Everything is at stake. This is the hour when we choose our future.”
Hunstman will also talk up the nice guy stuff, too.
“I don’t think you need to run down anyone’s reputation to run for President,” the excerpts read.
“I respect the President,” he’ll say. “He and I have a difference of opinion on how to help the country we both love. But the question each of us wants the voters to answer is who will be the better President; not who’s the better American.”
