Haley’s comet in no danger of burning out anytime soon
Seated next to President Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Nikki Haley did not look like a woman who had tortured herself over whether to resign as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
On television at least, she looked like someone who has a much better deal coming her way early next year. She looked like someone who has enjoyed 14 solid years of successful public life, first as a South Carolina state legislator, then as governor and, currently, as a national representative on the international stage. She looked like a woman who, at just 46, sees rainbows and jackpots in her future.
As Haley and Trump announced, she’ll leave the U.N. at the end of this year, but she’s not going anywhere — for long. Haley has long been considered a likely presidential candidate. But not before 2024. In her resignation letter, Haley explicitly said she “surely will not be a candidate for any office in 2020.” Too bad. It would be such a nice round number for the nation’s first female president.
Most likely, Haley is pausing to make some money. In her statement, she suggested an imminent return to the private sector. She and her husband have accrued considerable debt, according to the Charleston Post & Courier. Also, her parents’ home reportedly is in foreclosure. With her intimate knowledge of international trade, politics and relationships, Haley could pick her job — and name her salary — at any of several top-notch consulting firms. She might even make an excellent get for the Trump Organization, which would make some sense of her effusive praise for Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner.
I’ve been watching my fellow South Carolinian closely since our first meeting nearly a decade ago. Haley had called me for coffee to discuss her run for governor. A state legislator at the time, she shrewdly reached out to the only nationally syndicated columnist in town.
When I walked in, I spotted a pretty, petite woman dressed in a royal blue suit. (We women take note of such details.) She nearly knocked me off balance with her brilliant smile and piercing brown eyes. Disarming is the word — and it’s a good one if you’re a politician. Greeting me warmly, she quickly set the tone for our meeting: “Before we get started, I just want you to know that I agree with everything you said about Sarah Palin.”
Haley was referring to a column I had written the previous fall saying that Palin, recently selected as John McCain’s running mate, wasn’t quite ready for prime time.
“Well, then,” I said, “we’re off to a good start.”
Through the years, I’ve continued to drop her a line now and then. I remain intrigued and impressed by her personal power and epic story. Born to Sikh Indian parents and raised in tiny Bamberg, South Carolina, she has built a resume that speaks to ambition but also to tenacity and courage. Forty years ago, it wasn’t easy to be a brown-skinned child whose father wore a turban in a place like Bamberg. As U.N. ambassador, she has earned the respect of men and women across the spectrum, regardless of whether they agree with her often-hawkish positions.
It won’t serve her presidential aspirations well to stay out of politics for long. Thus, the burning question — what’s next? — has only one certain answer: Whatever she wants.