Indian-origin US politician Nikki Haley is thought to be seriously considering running for President; at some point
With the first Indian-American to hold a Cabinet position in the US as her country’s ambassador to the United Nations having put in her papers (she is to demit office by the end of the year), a star of the Republican Party and of the Donald Trump administration is in political orbit. And nobody seems to know which path her future political orbit will take. While some close to her have put dropped broad hints that she is looking at lucrative private sector assignments come the new year, speculation persists that it is her political career which remains her abiding passion and focus. While Haley seemed to put speculation to rest that she would challenge Trump for the Republican nomination for President in the next election in her resignation letter iterating that she would “not be a candidate for any office in 2020”, the murmurs are refusing to die down around the political plans of the former Governor of South Carolina.
Haley’s is a backstory that grassroot Republicans are enthralled with — the child of Indian Sikh immigrants born Stateside who integrated completely with the American mainstream while retaining pride in her cultural roots, she made her way up the political ladder on her own steam. First marked out as a rising star by Republican elders when she served as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, she was the second Indian-American to take oath as Governor of the State after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal. Her big moment and coast-to-coast media exposure, however, came when she was chosen to deliver the official response of her party to then President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address in January 2016. When Trump swept to a shock victory in the November 2016 US Presidential poll, she was a shoo-in for an important Cabinet post. Her stand on issues — a strong supporter of America first, a proponent of an integrationist model of multiculturalism including a nod to the US’ Judeo-Christian heritage albeit fuelled by waves of immigration and known to be uncompromising known for her tough stand on America’s trade disputes as well as strategic issues not excluding the use of force such as in the stand-off with North Korea in 2017 — is a much better fit with that of the Republican establishment than Trump’s. The fact that Haley quit just ahead of crucial mid-term elections, though she was effusive in her praise of the President, is also being seen as a desire not to be associated with the Trump legacy and style of politics. Which begs the obvious question — why? Our guess is she may run for President in 2020 anyway but will definitely do so if Trump decides not to run for a second term or is blocked by traditional Republicans from doing so. Otherwise, there’s always 2024; Haley is only 46 years old.
