I seem to be in the minority in not having thought much of Governor Nikki Haley’s SOTU response last night. I’m an admirer of Governor Haley’s and suspect that she is bound for a bigger role in national affairs, but her response struck me as a little bit watery.

Possibly this is simply a question of taste. Governor Haley sometimes has a slightly peculiar affect that causes her to seem to be on the verge of tears. Many politicians slip into that mode when they wish to communicate zealous personal commitment and moral seriousness, but its main effect on me is to make me want to offer them a cup of tea.

I’d also like to register my disapproval at her dopey little “Hey, I’m a woman!” bit at the very end of her remarks. Like Carly Fiorina’s silly “send a woman” joke (attempt at a joke, anyway) in the recent Republican debate, it feels like special pleading on grounds of sex. It’s as though they have in mind Samuel Johnson’s famous remark about a woman delivering a sermon: “A woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on its hind legs; it’s not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.” It isn’t remarkable in the United States that a woman, or a member of a minority group, or a child of immigrants, or a homosexual, or a model-train enthusiast should rise to a position of power and influence and to be considered for even higher positions. Pretending that it is is self-serving, and too cutesy for my taste. I wish they’d knock it off.

That being said, you really cannot help but notice that the contrast between such figures as Haley, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ben Sasse, Susana Martinez, Tom Cotton, etc., and the exhausted, decrepit cast of characters on the other side: Herself, that elderly Brooklyn socialist, John Kerry, Swamp Thing, etc. The Republicans have an embarrassment of riches, and they’ve never been more miserable.