First Woman President? Not Hillary!

The First Woman President of the United States
The View from the Middle

Friday afternoon, after I heard Senator Susan Collins’ speech about her decision to support Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court, I was certain I had the topic for this week’s article. Her speech was fantastic. It was well constructed, well-reasoned, compassionate, thoughtful and courageous. It will be talked about for years to come, maybe decades to come. It was the perfect speech for the perfect time in many ways, and I will write about it next week. But for this week, I have to talk about Nikki Haley.

Out of the blue this morning, Nikki Haley announced that she was retiring as our Ambassador to the UN. While many people were shocked by this news, I was not. First of all, she took this role to get the international experience that I think she knew she would inevitably need, and she took it at a time when the world was a mess. North Korea was launching missiles all over the Pacific Rim and testing nuclear devices on a regular basis. ISIS still had hopes of completing their califate. Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator was using chemical weapons on his people, obliterating President Obama’s red line. China was stealing our intellectual capital, manipulating their currency and blocking any fair participation in their markets. And Russia was being – Russia. The world was a real mess.

And in less than two years, Nikki Haley (along with Mike Pompeo and President Trump) has brought the world to a place that Obama could only have dreamt of. North Korea isn’t launching or testing anything. They have returned our prisoners and we didn’t have to send them plane loads of cash to get them, and now they have offered to allow us to inspect some of their nuclear testing and development facilities. Syria stepped over the chemical weapon red line and got 60 Tomahawk missiles in their ear for their effort. Iran’s economy is in shambles and on the edge of making a new, realistic nuclear deal. China is watching Canada, Mexico and soon, at a theater near you, the European Union making reciprocally beneficial trade deals with us and wondering how they can do the same and still save face. Let’s face it, the world is in a better place than it was in 2016.

And the rest of her resume is equally impressive. She started her career in the South Carolina state legislature, so she understands the law-making process. She was a very successful two-term governor of South Carolina. Next to the Presidency, a governorship is the highest executive position in politics.

She’s a low tax, small government fiscal conservative. She’s a compassionate pro-life social conservative, and if you should listen to anyone on immigration, it should be Nikki Haley. Both of her parents are legal immigrants from India, and she is a strong advocate for legal immigration and for an e-verify system that puts pressure on employers to be honest participants in that process. Nikki Haley’s only problem is what to do in the next four years until she starts her official run for the White House.

A stint in the US Senate would be a perfect finishing touch on her political resume, but South Carolina already has two Republican Senators, Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham. Both of these gentlemen are popular and young (Scott is only 53 and Graham 63) especially when you compare them to the likes of Diane Feinstein who is 85 and running this year for another six-year term that would keep her in the Senate until she is 92. What to do with Nikki Haley?

First, she needs a rest. So, let’s give her the next few weeks off. Then, I think she would be the perfect replacement for Jeff Sessions, Trump’s current Attorney General. I was actually in favor of Sessions’ appointment back in 2017, but the fact is he has been an absentee Attorney General ever since he recused himself from the Russian probe. Her appointment would continue to round out Nikki’s resume while giving Trump someone he can trust in that role and someone who can actively perform every aspect of that job.

So, you’ve heard it here first. Nikki Haley for President in 2024. The Democrats will have to show their true colors as they will try to trash this truly qualified woman. Nikki, however, will have the energy (she will only be 52 in 2024) and the resume that that Hillary Clinton didn’t have in 2016. Note to Nikki Haley – You go girl!!