Did you see that our governor has taken a break from writing her memoirs to grade her performance in the few days she’s been in office:
By Dawndy Mercer Plank – bio | email
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – Governor Nikki Haley is touring the state talking about her first 100 days in office, and her hits and misses so far.
The governor is boasting of changing the leadership of the Budget and Control Board, getting Medicaid reform passed, on-the-record voting permanent law, changes to the budget and getting agency directors approved within six weeks time.
We asked Governor Nikki Haley to grade herself on her first 100 days in office. “Effort, absolutely A+++!” she said. “I sleep and breathe this every day. I want everything done yesterday. For accomplishments, I’d honestly give myself an A. We are so excited for what we’ve done in 100 days. We really, really are.”…
Actually, I only heard her say “A-plus,” not “A-plus-plus-plus.” But still…
So now you know what it takes to be a great governor. That, I suppose, is why our past governors haven’t been as “fabulous” as we might have liked: they weren’t “great” wives and moms.
At least, they haven’t been as wildly fabulous as Nikki. Which she has been. Just ask her, she’ll tell you.
I tell you, folks, I’ve encountered a lot of manifestations of ego and narcissism in my going on 4 decades of closely following politics. But I’ve never encountered anything quite like what Nikki Haley has become.
Some of this might actually be a gender thing: Women can get away with a certain over-the-top enthusiasm, even about themselves, that would brand a man a major jerk. Things that a man could NOT get away with can sometimes be seen as charming when said by a woman with a nice smile.
Or maybe I’m completely off-base. I’m just groping here, trying to figure out why she gets away with this stuff…
Related Posts
At least this should be encouraging to the lawmakers that she is presuming to grade. They’ve got to be pleased to see what an easy grader she is. I’m sure they’re really wiping the sweat from their brows at this point.
What, you don’t think she’ll be as laudatory toward them as she is toward herself? Such unbecoming cynicism on your part. I’m appalled. You’re appalling me here…
I don’t see much difference in this and the breathless, name me/don’t name me, name me/don’t name me meeting she had with Cindi Scoppe 3 years ago about being “demoted” to the education committee.
She was just still your little Miss Transparency darling then.
And, it isn’t much different from this Donald Trump mess which makes me think bi-polar or drugs.
The only part of your comments that I’d question is the reference to “what NIkki Haley has become.” I didn’t pay attention before her transparency campaign began, so I concede that I might have missed something very early in her career, something that you saw in that very early period. However, as long as I’ve been aware of her existence, she has come across as extremely self-absorbed. Even her early comments on the transparency issue seemed to be more about how the mean old boys were mistreating poor little virtuous Nikki by not doing exactly what she wanted, rather than about improving the processes of government. As to why she gets away with this stuff — I haven’t a clue.
A fatuous response to a fatuous question, but then, not much surprise.
I read somewhere in the printed word, The State, or Free Times, that SC Governot Nikki Haley said that she ignores the critisms. If it is constructive critism that she is ignoring, then she is not growing and expanding her knowledge.
She has this opinion of herself that she is perfect in every way and if you disagree with her then you are wrong. That is Rush Limbaugh thinking!
Governot Haley has to work on “that transparency thing” on bringing transparency into the Governor’s Office. Publish your full schedule like Treasurer Curtis Loftis does, instead of filtering your appointments to publish. Travel expense accounting: how are you flying (state plane, private aircraft of contributor or friend, commercial flight; who is paying for the travel expenses: state or contributor, …)
I think that she deserves to be graded herself. However, instead of grading to the test or questions, ie., specific agenda items, I would grade upon broad categories: stewardship, transparency, cooperation (does she play well with others), etc.
I would grade her performance a D.
Haley is what passes for “normal” in South Carolina – It’s too small to be a country and too large to be an insane asylum. She has an ego which can actually be a good thing if channeled properly. But in her case her grading system is based on a set of premises that translate into bad policy for the state of SC.
You gotta give Governor Haley a break…she doesn’t have a lot of time to promote the story out there that she is a highly effective governor…only 13 or 14 months left until the GOP nominee picks their VP candidate. Hence the early “retrospectives” of her administration, her writing the book, etc. etc.
On a more general tangent in your comments about women and “getting away” with certain comments that men could not, when delivered with a smile: I take the point, but I think that all evens out when you consider how difficult it still is for women in leadership positions to be as decisive, strong, vocal as male leaders without being labeled as “shrill,” or worse, the “B” word.
Not to get off on a tangent, but whenever I hear that “if women act strong like men they are called the ‘B’ word,” it makes me want to say the BS word.
When MEN act the way that we’re talking about, the way that everyone (especially other women) will label as “B” behavior in a woman, we call them by the seven-letter “A” word.
This is truth. This is the way the world works. If anything, women are excused a certain latitude in being critical, assertive, shrill, or whatever because they are women. Women can say things that would get a guy punched in the face for saying — or dismissed as an “A” by the whole world.
Or at least, that’s the way it used to be. It’s probably less so now. More and more today, men and women are judged based on the quality of what they say. But the feminist myth that men are allowed to be big jerks with no consequences is just that — a myth.
I know. I’ve tried. Everybody gives me hell for it.
Oh, and Ralph — as for Nikki “ignoring” criticism…
That’s not what I hear. Of course, I’m not in a position to give you chapter and verse, because none of the witnesses want to cross her, any more than they have.
I’m speaking of politicos here. Media types are less reticent. For instance, remember when she “ignored” WACH-Fox?
Brad, If men can’t get away with being egotistical and narcissistic, why hasn’t “The Donald” been laughed off the stage?
Bud, It’s a VERY BIG insane asylum; failure to understand this fact may indicate that there’s a reason you’ve been placed here.
I don’t know, Karen — why hasn’t Michele Bachman?
Did I spell it right that time? I hate taking time to look up names that I don’t take any more seriously than those…
Brad–When SC is no longer 50th in the nation for women in office, I might consider your position. Lots of studies support Phillip’s assertion.
I wonder if the Darla Moore events are part of this grading period?
Maybe that wasn’t on the test.
Zwei “n”, wie “Eichmann”….
Hold on… are you getting pushy and assertive with me?
I’ll add that we at least had a strong, assertive woman on the USC trustee board… until we went and elected a woman as governor.
So, you know… be careful what you wish for, ladies.
Smiley face!!!
I didn’t vote for either of ’em, although I would gladly vote for one of them. Guess which one? [Hint: it isn’t news when she files her taxes on time.]
After Andrew Sorensen’s tribute, I spoke with a very highly placed official at USC who suggests that we haven’t heard the last of this and that Ms. Moore hasn’t slunk off in defeat to Lake City.
I say, “Bring it on!”
Note how traditionally Darla Moore comports herself–she’s pretty, very well-groomed and feminine. Someone more like Frannie Heiser would find it harder to be accepted, certainly around here.
There is no female equivalent of Jakie Knotts in politics. (I guess I didn’t need that last prepositional phrase, did I?)
You’re right about the “A” word,
Brad, re men exhibiting certain behavior, but the difference is twofold: 1) being labeled an “a……” is not automatically viewed as a disqualifier for leadership among men, in fact, it’s often seen as an asset, as in “yeah, he’s kind of an a……, but you have to be to do THAT job.”…and 2) the “a” word is not usually an epithet meant to relate specifically to the gender/sexual identity of the individual, even though we use that more for men. It’s simply not a corollary of the “b” word. “Shrill” is also a particularly fascinating word, because it’s not just directed only at women, it’s specifically meant to be addressed exclusively to a male audience, to evoke associations with either an overbearing/infantilizing maternal figure and/or an emasculating spouse or equivalent. Regardless of whether one personally experienced either of those, culturally those are powerful psychic signifiers for almost any male, so there’s an emotional response and association with hearing that word for men that is almost woven into our DNA.
Yea, Darla was in the grading period. In the clips they played on the newscast, Haley said something disgusting like ‘having a mega donor on the board would be like turning a board of 19 into a board of 1.’ That is totally my paraphrase from memory – but that was the gist. I think that is a very telling comment. Since Haley clearly gives commensurate preference to her donors, I guess she assumes everyone does.
It makes me feel a little sorry for her, but only a little, because I am madder that we are held hostage to her self absorbed mis-perceptions.
Obviously, Ms. Bachmann can get away with it because she’s a woman, or perhaps because a fair-sized part of the electorate has gone completely off its cams.
“Effort, absolutely A+++!” she said. “I sleep and breathe this every day. I want everything done yesterday. For accomplishments, I’d honestly give myself an A. We are so excited for what we’ve done in 100 days. We really, really are.”…
Stunning.
[like] what Phillip said