Obama Ships a 2012 Presidential Challenger to China

President Obama has figured out a pretty surefire tactic when it comes to dispensing of potential 2012 rivals.

It's a cross between a promotion and a deportation.

Take Hillary Rodham Clinton, who fell just a few British nobility votes short of knocking off Obama in the Democratic party primary a year ago. With rumors buzzing that she would run again in 2012 on a PUMA theme, Obama tapped her as his Secretary of State. Now she has more to do with Lebanese elections than American ones, and Obama will undoubtedly cruise to re-nomination in three years.

This strategy worked so well that Obama has come back for an encore. See, you may have read that moderate Utah Governor (yes, that's an oxymoron; let it sink in and then continue) Jon Huntsman has been considered among the frontrunners for the GOP's presidential nomination next time around.

Well apparently Obama has heard that as well. And his solution? Ship the man to China...

President Barack Obama intends to name Utah's Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman, seen by many to be a potential GOP presidential contender, to be ambassador to China a source close to the governor said Friday night.

The popular moderate governor has accepted the appointment, said the source, who would speak only on condition of anonymity ahead of a White House announcement expected Saturday...

Huntsman, a two-term governor, is fluent in Mandarin Chinese from his days as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan. One of his seven children, Gracie Mei, was adopted from China in 1999 after she was abandoned in a vegetable market.

Give credit to Huntsman for putting any aspirations to higher office on hold while serving his country in a bipartisan fashion. Being ambassador to China is about as rewarding as being cinematographer to Christian Bale, and it takes a true patriot to derail a political career for such a job.

And give credit to Obama for not only appointing a rising star to tackle one of our nation's most prickly diplomatic relationships, but for being the shrewdest political strategist this side of Machiavelli! (And yes, we'll excuse him his Judd Gregg debacle.)

So what does this mean for the rest of 2012's presidential aspirants? We're not sure, but we're definitely crossing our fingers for Mitt Romney chairing the London Olympic committee and Sarah Palin becoming ambassador to Africa.