Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government by Hugo Gurdon, Editor-in-Chief |
Nikki Haley has done everyone a favor by announcing she is running for president.
This is partly because she didn’t edge crabwise into the race by first setting up an “exploratory committee.” That path bespeaks a candidate uncertain of her own suitability. Dipping a toe into the water rather than taking the plunge is a bad look for someone claiming to be the best chief executive for the world’s preeminent nation and global leader. Haley bravely and straightforwardly took the plunge; she is in.
It will be a blessing if this prompts Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who is also from the strategically helpful primary state of South Carolina, to dispense with tiresome half-in-half-out timidity and just go for it when, as imminently expected, he breaks cover and emerges into the open.
Haley’s launch means Republicans have an official and highly plausible rival to former President Donald Trump. The party desperately needs this. It is held against Haley that she worked for Trump (as United Nations ambassador) and previously said she wouldn’t challenge him. Trump quickly drew attention to the awkward flip-flop. But Haley’s U.N. stint is a strength, as is her successful governorship of her state. Her 180-degree about-face on battling him will, however, be raised repeatedly and will require deft explanation again and again.
Both her early entry into the race and Trump’s are, however, signs of weakness. Trump’s reelection launch was a hollow act of bravado. He made it immediately after being exposed as a dead weight on the GOP by the defeat of his favored midterm candidates. He urgently wanted to end talk about his weakness and so he did something dramatic to give the impression that he was not yesterday’s man, not a spent force. He has some poll strength but not what he should have after being the only candidate for two months.
Haley is getting in now because although she is admirable, accomplished, and poised, there is no popular demand, no clamor for her candidacy. Despite long positioning herself for this bid, no one is asking her to run. She desperately needs to attract attention and enthusiasm. She is presenting herself attractively as neither black nor white and as the harbinger of a new generation of American leadership. Her campaign launch video evokes her upbringing on the wrong side of the tracks, but nothing in years of careful priming suggests her train has the locomotive force to reach its intended destination. That is why former national security adviser John Bolton quickly opined that she is really running for vice president…
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