If Jon Huntsman’s presidential campaign had a theme or a defining characteristic—something voters might easily identify with the candidate—it was probably his often-repeated contention that the country was facing a “trust deficit” between its citizens and elected officials. It’s no small irony, then, that if Huntsman’s campaign accomplished anything at all—a debatable proposition—it was to grow that trust deficit.

The very idea of a Huntsman candidacy feeds cynicism about politics: He left his job as Utah governor to serve a then-extraordinarily popular president, a man he called a “remarkable leader.” He served until April 30, 2011, moved back to the United States and, less than two months later, announced that he was running to replace Obama and suggesting that his former boss had been an historic failure.