Huntsman: GOP should avoid social, 'fringe' issues

Former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman said Friday that the Republican Party should stress its "libertarian roots" rather than "fringe" social issues as it evaluates its election losses.

“I think the deliberation about the Republican Party that we’re having is a very healthy thing," Huntsman told CNN. "And if we don’t wind up at the end of the exercise with a mission statement that is one sentence long, then we’re toast. That one statement ought to be, ‘Balance the budgets and get out of people’s lives.’ And you ought to build the party around that because we have strong libertarian roots that go way back to the early days of the Republican Party.”

Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, said he doubted President Obama and Mitt Romney — who bested Huntsman for the GOP nomination — discussed anything but "America's leadership in the world" during a lunch at the White House on Thursday.

"So what did the two most important people in this country sit down and talk about yesterday at lunch?” Huntsman asked. “When everything else is done, and the election is wrapped up, it isn’t about social issues. It isn’t about the fringe issues. They sat down and talked about America’s leadership in the world."

Huntsman went on to warn that the party was occasionally consumed by such "fringe issues, and it gets us stuck in the alleyways of life that take our focus away from what is really important for the American people, and that is individual freedom and that is getting the budgets balanced so people can get on with their lives.”

Huntsman, who was the former U.S. Ambassador to China under President Obama, also urged Republicans to cool their rhetoric surrounding the terrorist attack in Benghazi.

"What I'm saying about the Benghazi incident is let's lower the politics," Huntsman said. "Let's let the experts collect the information."

He also downplayed any suggestion that he could serve as Secretary of State, with Hillary Clinton planning to leave the job at the end of the president's first term — although seemingly indicated he would accept the job, if asked.

"I don't play the hypothetical game," Huntsman said. "We have moved on. My history has always spoken to putting my country first, and if I didn't, my two sons at the U.S. Naval Academy would never forgive me. The president will choose who he wants, and it serves no purpose playing the speculation game."

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