Haley was the most presidential on GOP debate stage

I watched the Wednesday Republican debate with one observation in mind. Who is the most presidential?

And, there was one candidate who stood above the rest in that regard – former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Haley stood out in another way – she was the only woman on the debate stage – something that is getting pretty tiring to see. However, Haley took full advantage of her position and her strengths during the debate.

Some say Haley won’t appeal to the large segment of Republican voters who still hold sexist or misogynistic views. I say baloney. And if that is the case, I believe there are enough Republican women voters who hold slightly more moderate policy positions and who don’t identify at all with former president and current 2024 frontrunner Donald Trump who can help Haley move forward to the front of the GOP stage – if they have the guts to start voting their own interests.

According to a focus group Navigator Research conducted with 33 independent Wisconsin voters after the debate, 45 percent said they believed Haley had won, the highest proportion to say that of any candidate. 

She came out strong, confident and articulate. She knew what she was talking about. When confronting the highly energized (and somewhat goofy) Vivek Ramaswamy, she pointed out his idealistic and amateurish views on foreign policy – among other things.

Ramaswamy certainly hogged a lot of the spotlight on Wednesday night, but I simply couldn’t take him seriously. As former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pointed out, he stole a line from former President Barack Obama’s speech to the DNC. And while his business acumen is impressive, the other GOP candidates are right – he’s a rookie not ready for this stage yet. Let him run for Congress or the U.S. Senate to boost his chops. Or heck, start at the state level and run for the legislature or even governor.

Haley already has the chops. She’s a former governor of South Carolina, and prior to that was elected as a House Representative for South Carolina.

Appointed by Trump as ambassador, she had an impressive tenure there. She was tough on sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Crimea. She has a strong position on continuing funding Ukraine’s fight against Russia, and that will bring some scrutiny because many in the GOP are weary of the large sums the U.S. is giving to Ukraine in military aid. However, she understands the important balance of funding Ukrainian resistance now – or funding a full-fledged U.S. troop involvement should Russia prevail.

I think most right-thinking conservatives would rather help Ukraine fight its own war instead of involving U.S. troops in what could become a full-fledged world war. The stakes are that high, and she knows it.

She also knows the hardline, right-wing GOP stance on near complete bans on abortion is a losing issue on the national scale. She believes consensus can be found with some common-sense logic, which she spelled out during Wednesday’s debate. She says she’s a proud pro-lifer – which I take with a grain of salt because no one will say they are pro-death. But there is a difference between pro-birth and pro-child, and that’s where the GOP abortion hardliners get lost, in my opinion.

Republican women need to stand up in this 2024 election. Face it, ladies, the GOP right-wing establishment doesn’t like us much or give us much credence. Many, including Trump, have made degrading and disparaging comments about women. In fact, in the last election, Trump garnered only about 30 percent approval ratings among female voters.

At this point, the pundits don’t really give Haley much of a chance. However, she has a good political skill set. She has common sense, and it appears to me, an ability to listen and articulate clarity of understanding of the issues.

She’s not going to beat voters over the head with her “womanhood,” however, its her strong characteristics as a woman, a seasoned politician and political executive, a military wife and a mom that should resonate more strongly with mainstream traditional GOP women voters and boost her in the polls.

Here’s what it comes down to for me – can Nikki Haley prevail in an election over old, worn-out, out-of-touch Joe? I think she can, if given the chance.