Greeny News

Former US ambassador to China served under Obama and had praised the president in the leaked diplomatic cables

There are few positive comments about Barack Obama at the embassy cable from the former American ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman dotted sent, and then leaked to Wikileaks.

But they are sufficient to avoid problems for the most recent Republican president candidate cause in the coming months.

Huntsman, from a podium in New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty in the background, on Tuesday announced that he join the race to access his old chief of the White House next year.

Confirmation of his intention to seek the nomination, he criticized the president 's record, and contrary to his time as ambassador, as he projected American power, portrayed the U.S. as vulnerable.

"For the first time in our history, we go to the next generation a country that is less powerful, less compassionate, is less competitive and less confident than what we have. This, ladies and gentlemen, totally unacceptable and totally un-American , "he said.

The president approached Huntsman in 2009 and asked him to be the ambassador to Beijing, and Huntsman accepted, serving until this April. In that time, he worked alongside the Obama on issues ranging from climate change to human rights, and stood side by side with him when the president visited China.

Huntsman, a Mormon, spent two and a half years as a missionary in Taiwan and speaks Mandarin. Obama may have chosen him for his experience as a governor and Mandarin-speaker or may have asked him in an attempt to take him out of the Republican race. As well as having worked for Obama, another potential negative for Huntsman is that he was a strong believer in the importance of tackling climate change, an issue on which many Republicans, including some of his rivals have expressed scepticism.