Jon Huntsman speaks at commencement for University of South Carolina on Saturday. | AP Photo Huntsman: Why I served Obama

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jon Huntsman marked his return from China to the United States with a sweeping address calling young Americans to serve their country — even if it's by working for the president of a different political party.

"Serve [America], if asked. I was, by a president of a different political party. But in the end, while we might not all be of one party, we are all part of one nation," Huntsman, who was named ambassador by President Obama, told the 2011 graduating class of the University of South Carolina's College of the Arts and Sciences on Saturday.


The speech was Huntsman's first public appearance since returning from abroad — and his comments are his first attempt to neutralize potential attacks on his service to a Democratic president loathed by the Republican base he'll have to win over if he's going to win the 2012 Republican presidential primary.

Huntsman, 51, was introduced to the students in the program as a "respected public servant, business executive, governor and ambassador" — a list of credentials that put Huntsman's resume near the top of the prospective Republican 2012 pile. Huntsman was governor of Utah and also served as ambassador to Singapore during the first Bush administration before being appointed as Obama's ambassador to China.

But the credentials Huntsman offered to his young audience had more to do with rock and roll than with China. "My initial passion in life was to be a rock and roll musician," he said, explaining that he dropped out of high school a few months before graduation to play with a band called Wizard. "My hair was Rod Stewart shaggy. ... I wouldn't wear anything but super skinny jeans."

"We crawled in the ugliest green Econoline van you could ever imagine, with fold-up chairs in the back," he said.

Wizard didn't work out, and Huntsman has since graduated to traveling in rented cars with the pack of aides that have been building a campaign-in-waiting that is preparing to launch a presidential bid for Huntsman early this summer. Those staffers — including top strategist John Weaver, communications guru Matt David, ad man Fred Davis and consultant Lanny Wiles — accompanied Huntsman to the commencement speech here.

It's just the latest stop on the busy political schedule Huntsman has kept in the week since he officially resigned on April 30. While in South Carolina, Huntsman also met with Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, who will be a key endorser in South Carolina's early primary, and with other local Republican leaders. After he gave the commencement address, he was heading to Charleston for additional meetings.

In his address, Huntsman drew heavily on his experience in China.

"I know there are many in China who think their time has come, that America's best days are over. And, there are probably some in this country who have lost confidence and think that China is the next big thing," Huntsman said. "But these people aren't seeing things from my earlier vantage point of 10,000 miles away. The way I saw it from overseas, America's passion remains as strong today as ever."

Huntsman said that America remains the world standard.

"When the oppressed are fighting autocratic regimes, they look to America for inspiration. When overseas entrepreneurs build companies, they still look to U.S. practices as the gold standard," he said.

But Huntsman spent more time talking about his favorite song lyric, from a song by Ben Folds Five; how he met his wife — working at Marie's pie shop in Utah, where he was a dishwasher and she the salad girl; and praising the South Carolina Gamecocks.

"You may have to help me on this," he said after he finished the traditional Gamecocks cheer in Mandarin Chinese, a language he speaks fluently.

"Go, fight, win?" he said in English.

"Kick ass!" the audience shouted in response.