While I was interviewing former Gov. Rick Snyder for a column on his return to grace on Mackinac Island this week, I reminded him of a conversation we had a year ago during the Detroit Regional Chamber’s policy conference.
A few of us from The Detroit News had invited Snyder and his wife Sue to join us for supper. The conversation moved steadily from past to present, and finally to the former governor’s future plans.
“I’ve still got another chapter,” Snyder replied. He was coy when pressed, exchanging smiles with Sue. We assumed he was envisioning a private sector role, but Snyder said no, reminding us that real change requires elected office. Senator, we asked. He said no again. Still puzzled, we made a seemingly preposterous guess: “President?”
The look between him and Sue was all the affirmation we needed. But Snyder wasn’t ready to offer further details, and I found the idea, at the time, too far-fetched to lend it credibility.
But I asked again during our most recent interview. This time, Snyder noted that a number of his supporters had urged him to consider another presidential run. (He ran briefly in 2016, before the Flint water crisis overwhelmed him.)
And? “I’m thinking about it,” he said. That’s all he would offer, but knowing Snyder, I’m certain he’s explored extensively how a presidential run would work, including the path he’d have to take around Flint.
I still can’t see it, and not just because of Flint. The Republican Party has changed too much since Snyder won his first election in 2010. Today’s GOP is all about anger, bombast and bullying. Snyder has none of that in him.
He is, as his tagline proclaims, relentlessly positive. He’s a solutions-oriented executive, brimming with practical ideas and the determination to get them done.
But Flint will never go away, and the Republican Party is not likely to swing back far enough towards the middle to meet Snyder’s brand of politics.
That’s too bad. I think the same thing now that I did in ’16. Snyder would make a hell of a president. Imagine how much better off the country would be today had he prevailed then?
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Nolan Finley: Snyder for president? He’s thinking about it
Reporting by Nolan Finley, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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