Jon Huntsman resigns; may run – Mike Allen – POLITICO.com.

Obama should fire him immediately. Staying in the job until May will only confuse things in Beijing.

But Obama will let him serve through the spring. As the Politico article states:

White House officials are furious at what they consider an audacious betrayal but know that any public criticism would be likely to benefit Huntsman if he enters the primaries.

So there you have it. Huntsman betrays the President in front of the Chinese but the White House is too focused on politics to have anything but a dithering, milquetoast reaction. The story of this administration…

UPDATE: I have started a thread on this topic on Quora. Here are some of my comments:

You have to consider how the Chinese will see this and how it will affect the relationship…Obama is letting political considerations get in the way of this relationship, at a time when we are struggling to regain momentum and trying to capitalize on whatever good will was created during the Hu-Obama summit.

Huntsman can no longer be an effective envoy, no matter how talented and ethical he may be…The Chinese will now play to him and Obama, as a way to hedge his possible election as President in 2012.

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