Good time for GOP moderates to take sabbatical

As this column's deadline approaches on Thursday, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has just successfully passed his first confirmation hurdle, a U.S. Senate hearing on his nomination to be ambassador to China.

Huntsman should be confirmed by the committee next week, with a full vote by the Senate soon after.

He could resign sometime in early August, with Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert officially taking the helm of state government.

Then Huntsman will basically disappear into a news coverage black hole, at least as far as Utahns are concerned.

Ambassadors, even ambassadors to powerful, important countries, don't seek the limelight. They work mostly behind the scenes on political and economic problems.

Huntsman is clearly moving into a job that he's wanted for some time — learning Mandarin Chinese as a young Mormon missionary in Taiwan, honing his ambassadorial skills first as the U.S. representative to Singapore then as a trade ambassador to East Asia.

He resigned the later post to come back to Utah and begin his own political career — the governorship the only elected office he's ever sought.

With Huntsman becoming a moderate national voice for the Republican Party earlier this year, I believe this is actually a good time for him to ride off.

Moderate Republicans aren't doing very well in national politics. And they certainly aren't doing very well in Utah.

One moderate GOP state House member says she and her GOP colleagues are becoming "an endangered species" in Capitol hallways — with the conservative wing of the Utah GOP feeling empowered and powerful.

Huntsman's problems with his right wing started when he joined the most famous Republican in Name Only, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the Western Climate Initiative.

Then Huntsman — perhaps with an eye toward national politics — said during the 2009 Legislature that he agreed with the social aims of the Common Ground Initiative. That group wants equal treatment for gays and lesbians on a number of issues, including civil unions.

That upset a number of Utah Republicans, including a few legislators who said Huntsman was not a conservative like he should be.

With no leading moderate voices among national Republicans, it's a good time for politicians like Huntsman to take a sabbatical.

Disappear for a bit.