How much political excitement did Jon Huntsman generate this week when he officially announced his plans to run as a Republican candidate for president of the United States?
That's hard to say. He has been among the lesser-known presidential prospects, although he is a former governor of Utah and until recently served as U.S. ambassador to Communist China under Democrat President Barack Obama.
He now hopes to challenge Obama in 2012. But to win the Republican nomination, he will have to pull ahead of hopefuls such as Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and some others, all of whom are also seeking to lead our country.
Former Gov. Huntsman selected a good backdrop - the Statue of Liberty - for his announcement. He is personally appealing and is certainly more conservative than Obama and perhaps some of the other Republican hopefuls. But in his brief announcement, he offered few details. He declared, "We have the power, we have the means, we have the character to astonish the world again by making from adversity a new and better country."
We clearly need to do that. But who, and what specific issues, will inspire us as we select our next president?