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How It Feels the Day Your Dad Drops Out of the Presidential Race, From
Someone Who Has Been There: Glamour.com

http://www.glamour.com/inspired/blogs/the-conversation/2016/02/how-it-feels-the-day-your-dad

How It Feels the Day Your Dad Drops Out of the Presidential Race, From
Someone Who Has Been There

I’m often asked what it was like to have my dad Jon Huntsman [the former
Republican Governor of Utah and U.S. Ambassador to China] run for President
of the United States back in 2012. Usually, I just smile and say: “Well, it
was certainly an experience my family will never forget.” And then I keep
the conversation moving because, in reality, I can’t easily answer that
question in 30 seconds in an elevator. I’m convinced the term “emotional
roller-coaster” was invented specifically for families who take on this
endeavor together. And the hardest day of all—the day no one ever wants to
remember or relive again—is the day you watch your parent drop out of the
race. It’s heartbreaking. Crushing. And unfortunately I will never forget
that day, as hard as I try.


[image: abby-huntsman-jon-huntsman]


It was about this time four years ago. We were in South Carolina waiting to
walk into a room full of flashing lights, cameras, and anxious reporters
waiting for their next headline. After months of campaigning, my whole
family felt mentally and physically exhausted. In a nut shell, life as we
knew it included living out of a small suitcase, that we would roll from
one Embassy Suites to the next, on barely any sleep, eating whatever bag of
chips the nearest gas station or airport had to offer (never thought it was
possible to get sick of Cheetos!). You put your body through the wringer.
There’s a reason most of the candidates at this point in the race have lost
their voice.

As drained as we all were, in that moment, we all had to stay strong for my
dad. After all, he was the one who had to walk out in front of all those
people and publicly admit that he lost. My dad is a statesman and a
confident leader. He is steady and calm, whether as Governor or Ambassador,
or even just as a dad. But in that moment, I saw a sadness in his eyes that
I had never seen before. He genuinely felt like a failure, turning to us,
his family, and saying, “I'm sorry I let you guys down.” He never wanted to
let *us* down, or the country down. That is the man he is. In that moment
we weren’t just exhausted, we were defeated.

All I could think about in that instant was: “How can someone so
incredible, and with so much to offer this country, feel like such a
failure?” And: “Why doesn’t every other voter out there see what we see in
him?” I remember going back to the hotel with my family and sitting in
silence. We were all numb. Questions raced through my head: What just
happened? Is it really all over? For the last time we rolled our suitcases
full of dirty clothes out of the hotel and headed home.

Running for office is a huge risk. With any risk, you may not “win,” but
chances are you’ll make an impact—and be better for it. My whole family is
better for working together on my dad’s campaign. We’re so much
closer—especially my sisters, Mary Anne and Liddy, and me. Those months on
the trail marked the first time the three of us lived together as adults.
And the first time we worked together too: We were known as the
@Jon2012Girls. We ran around New Hampshire and South Carolina, rallying for
my dad, and challenging the status quo of being the “perfect and
politically-correct” children of the candidate. (Although most of the
campaign consultants likened us more to a political nightmare, a gaffe just
waiting to happen.) We got a thrill out of it! Remember this
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOYVB2hc0HA>?

Working together, you can imagine we had hilarious moments and huge fights
over the dumbest things too. I remember one time I yelled at my younger
sister Liddy for posting a tweet the three of us didn’t approve of. In
response, she walked out the door, saying she had had it with the family
and was moving to London and never coming back again. Five minutes later
she walked back in. We still laugh about that moment. Emotions were
incredibly high all the time. But looking back on it now, I have so many
incredible memories from the campaign. I saw firsthand how our democracy
works. I also learned the power of one vote, and what it takes to earn that
vote. Even my dad admits he saw our presence as a bright spot in a campaign
that had a lot of tough days.

Now four years later, I find myself on the other side of politics, in the
FOX News newsroom reporting on the latest poll numbers, or dissecting the
presidential debates. Who’s up, and who’s down? Who won, and who lost?
Who’s in, and who’s dropping out? But as I do it, I can’t help but think
about the candidates and their families. What they must be feeling at that
very moment. Because I’ve been there, I know it’s not easy. I often think
about Jeb Bush’s kids—even more so yesterday after Mr. Bush announced he
suspended his campaign
<http://www.glamour.com/inspired/blogs/the-conversation/2016/02/jeb-bush-drops-out-2016-election>.
Their dad got picked apart. I imagine they feel helpless. Just like we felt
a lot of the time. You have to remember that these candidates and their
families are all human (yes, even Donald Trump…at least I think?). And as
humans there is nothing worse than seeing someone you love get hurt, and
then not being able to do anything about it.

But look, running for President was never supposed to be easy. I get that.
it’s a tough business. Which is also why it takes a tremendous amount of
courage to do it. We never talk about that, because it’s so much easier to
put people down than it is to recognize their strengths. Ask yourself this,
could you ever run for President? I know I couldn’t! So let’s all take a
step back and applaud those people who put themselves out there and try.
Including their families! That’s what a democracy is all about, and in the
end this country is better for it. The best advice I can give Mr. Bush’s
family, and the families of all the candidates who have recently dropped
out, or will in the near future, is that the sting of defeat only becomes
dull. It certainly doesn’t last forever—but yet, the good memories as a
family do.


*Abby Huntsman is a reporter for FOX News Channel. Follow her:
@HuntsmanAbby
<https://twitter.com/HuntsmanAbby?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor>.
*

Photos: Getty; Courtesy of Subject


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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