The Lady From Bamberg

“Why don´t you stop and look me over? Am I the same girl you used to know? Why don´t you stop and think it over?... Am I the Same Girl. Swing Out Sister. Never far from the headlines, Nikki Haley remains a moving target, hard for an opponent to land a solid hit on. She’s one part Reagan Republican, strong on business and foreign policy, and an equal part Southern populist, totally at ease with working people. She married Michael Haley, a Major in the South Carolina National Guard, who’s done deployments to Afghanistan and Djibouti and identifies herself as a military spouse. She also has a secret weapon and it’s her “Mom Voice”, that tone of voice that comes out when she is wagging that index finger and chewing someone’s ass out. Nikki Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants, grew up in Bamberg, South Carolina and once described the experience, “…as the only Indian family, our little town came to love us, but it wasn't always easy”, she said. “Nobody knew who we were, what we were, or why we were there…" She learned a lot about life, and toughened up, being neither black nor white, in a small town in the deep south. After graduating from Clemson, she got into South Carolina politics, a contact sport, where she learned to trade elbows with the boys. Elected Governor, she led from the right to the center, and kept the state on an even keel. Following the mass murder in a black church by a self-avowed white supremacist, a flag issue made national headlines. The old, Confederate battle flag that had always flown over the Capitol Building was always a point of controversary, and now it was a national headline. Governor Haley listened to both sides, thought about it and said, take it down. The media pounced, they thought they had a story, she looked at the camera and said, “it was time.” The simplicity of the answer didn’t invite rehashing anything, argument, or further explanation-it was a closed issue and superb politics. After six years as Governor, she resigned to become Trump’s UN Ambassador. At the UN, she met world leaders and polished her foreign policy “chops”. She left that post with her reputation intact, and no connection with any stain of January 6th, or election denial. In 2024, while mounting her own campaign for president, she was asked about the Trump years, and replied that he’d done several good things during his presidency, but in 2024 was a “chaos candidate” and refused to endorse him or raise money for him. Despite not actually endorsing him, she publicly said she’d vote for him, making her look like a loyal Republican, a team player. She’s dodged and weaved on the abortion issue, saying she was personally pro-life, but uncomfortable telling other women what to do, and supporting some type of compromise. It’s interesting that in a lot of stuff I’ve read and heard from people, Nikki Haley was the Republican candidate that Joe Biden’s people were most worried about running against. So, if she’s suspended (or at least kind of suspended) her campaign for President, what is the Lady from Bamberg doing? The obvious answer in the short run, prior to the Republican convention in July, is staying available if Trump isn’t. She’s also (1) working the coffee shops and polishing her skills with crowds and unexpected questions (2) learning how to campaign for president at “game speed”-long hours and fatigue (3) testing her message (4) getting recognized and making contacts (5) fund raising (6) learning to act presidential, let everyone get to know you and look the part of the woman who’ll  have the pen, the checkbook and the nuke codes…