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'Time for a new generation,' Nikki Haley tweets to launch presidential campaign [1]

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Date: 2023-02-14  

This is an interesting video. Haley is striking a very different note from a Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Marjorie Taylor Greene, speaking gently over mellow piano music, dwelling on the positives of her upbringing—but as she speaks, the video uses images as counterpoints to demonize Democrats. “Some look at our past as evidence that America’s founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up,” she says as images of The 1619 Project and a “Racism is a pandemic” sign flash on the screen. “Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist, and evil,” as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is shown giving a speech.

And so on. Haley offers inspirational thoughts about how the United States is not evil (getting really controversial there) but China and Iran are, and how “Even on our worst days, we are blessed to live in America.” Soaring stock footage is interspersed with images of high points from Haley’s career as she recounts her leadership of South Carolina, dog-whistling on Republican culture war subjects without getting offputtingly explicit about it: “Moms and dads held their heads up high. Children learned that it was always ‘a great day in South Carolina.’” (Translation: White moms and dads didn’t worry that their kids were learning about racism.)

Haley uses the 2015 mass murder at Mother Emanuel Church to make the case that she led a moment of racial reconciliation. “We turned away from fear, toward God, and the values that still make our country the free-est and greatest in the world,” she says of that moment. Then, a little transition, and she draws the lesson from it: that Republicans have to learn from her leadership. “We must turn in that direction again. Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change.” Then a quick see-saw, first back to attacking Democrats, naming President Joe Biden, followed by a positive message about Haley. None of her positive message is about policy, though. She’s steering clear of all that. This is about Nikki Haley’s image of resolute strength combined with warmth and compassion. Talk about abortion will have to come later.

Then Haley gets to her big close: “Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left [picture of Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders] sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me: I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels. I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for president.”

It’s a deftly crafted message: Haley nods to a series of right-wing boogeymen, but wraps it in gauzy, inspirational talk about being blessed to live in America. She’s clearly going for Republicans who are sick of Trump and, ultimately, for independent voters, but she’s not dismissing the far right and its concerns. That said, it’s unlikely to be going anywhere. Haley is not the generational political talent she wants to believe herself to be, and while Trump’s rage-addicted base may be shrinking, it’s still likely to be decisive in a Republican primary. If this is really a vice presidential run, you could maybe imagine it appealing to a Ron DeSantis type, but it doesn’t seem like she’s angling to be Trump’s pick, or that she would have any hope of getting it.

As a former governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador, Haley is a serious candidate if you’re going on credentials. It’s hard to see a scenario in which her presidential run gets very far, though.

How can you tell when a poll is actually high quality? Natalie Jackson, research director at PRRI, joins us on this week's episode of The Downballot to discuss that and more. Jackson tells us the indicators she looks for to determine whether a survey is worth taking seriously, what she thinks the future of polling aggregation ought to look like, and why white evangelical Christians are the real outliers when it comes to religious groups' views on abortion.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also break down Democrats' big special election victories in Pennsylvania; new efforts by progressives to pick their preferred GOP opponents in two key Wisconsin races; the first true retirement from the House this cycle; and a proposal to increase the size of the House, which has been capped at 435 members for more than a century.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/14/2152879/--Time-for-a-new-generation-Nikki-Haley-tweets-to-launch-presidential-campaign

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