Huntsman: GOP needs ‘real ideas,’ not complaints

Potential 2012 presidential candidate and Utah Gov. John Huntsman (R) said that while Republicans have done a good job of being unified in opposition to President Obama, they’ve done a poor job of offering alternatives.

“Instead of just kind of grousing and complaining, it would do us all a whole lot of good if we actually started engaging directly in finding compromises and common ground and shared solutions,” Huntsman said Wednesday in an interview with ABC News.

Huntsman has carved out a reputation as one of the most popular governors in the country, but has been openly critical of the GOP at times and unafraid to break with the party establishment on some issues. In particular, he’s backed civil unions for gay and lesbian couples in Utah, and openly accepted funds from the federal stimulus package while other Republican governors had balked at taking the money.

“I would give the party high marks for unified opposition, getting everybody in line, keeping everybody contained, in opposition to some of the initiatives of the Obama administration,” he said. “That now needs to be supplemented by real ideas and solutions.”

Huntsman gave Republicans an “incomplete” grade for their first 100 days in the opposition, but expressed optimism that the party has begun to grasp that they can’t be labeled as the “party of ‘no.'”