White House lavishes praise on Huntsman’s support for Obama

The White House is showing no signs of letting up on its campaign for
Ambassador Jon Huntsman’s presidential prospects – if anything, it’s in
pile-on mode.

Chief of Staff Bill Daley on Sunday heaped praise
on Huntsman (R), Obama’s ambassador to China who is resigning his post
and is said to be mulling a challenge to his boss for the presidency.

{mosads}“He’s done an excellent job on behalf of the Obama administration,”
Daley said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he was barely able to
suppress a smile as he spoke.

Then Daley went into overdrive.
“[Huntsman’s] support of the Obama administration, his support of the
president, the things he did on behalf of the administration, and the
closeness in which he worked with the president is most appreciated. And
I’m sure he’ll talk about that in the Republican primary.”

Huntsman, a former governor of Utah, accepted the appointment as
ambassador by Obama in 2009. He announced last month that he would leave
the post at the end of April, and supporters in the U.S. have been
openly pushing him to seek the GOP nomination.

The White House has engaged in a concerted effort to play up
Huntsman’s ties to the administration, which many political observers
believe would doom him with the conservative Republican base.

Daley
noted that there has been a lot of speculation about Huntsman, but he
said has not heard the ambassador make any “inappropriate” statements
about his political plans while he remains a member of the
administration.