Tulsi Gabbard’s public life is marked by two major successes.

First, she served four terms as a representative to Congress from Hawaii — and second, she had a successful military career: starting in 2004 by enlisting in the Hawaii Army National Guard, going through officer candidate school, serving in Kuwait and being promoted from her rank as captain to that of major.

Gabbard left the Hawaii Army National Guard after 17 years to become a civil affairs officer with a California-based Army Reserve unit, according to Star-Advertiser reports.

Now Gabbard’s political life is filled with much speculation, if less than specific public title.

For instance, Gabbard has been repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for U.S. vice president by both Republican Donald Trump and maverick Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Half of that political speculation ended last week as Kennedy named attorney and tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.

Before that Gabbard had announced a campaign for president which ended with little national notice.

For Gabbard, her map through Hawaii politics traced a path both broad and wide, if not very deep.

Early in her congressional career, Gabbard got her toe in CNN’s “Situation Room” by blasting then-President Barack Obama after a man killed 49 at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., with Donald Trump reigniting a political debate, demanding that Obama call it “radical Islamic terrorism.”

Gabbard added to Trump’s rhetoric by joining his demands that Obama brand it Islamic terrorism.

The controversy had a short life, but it showed that Gabbard was a Hawaii politician who could follow the public moods of the moment.

When the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump in December 2019, it was Gabbard who voted “present,” saying, “I could not in good conscience vote against impeachment because I believe President Trump is guilty of wrongdoing. I could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting president must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.”

She also showed a contrarian strain in 2016 by endorsing Bernie Sanders for president over Hillary Clinton.

But all that was eclipsed by Gabbard’s new dalliance, a possible run for vice president on the GOP ticket with Donald Trump.

“I would be open to that,” she told Fox News host Jesse Watters when asked this month about serving as Trump’s running mate.

NBC said last week that Trump allies and insiders say she may be getting a look from the former president. “Some on the right have floated her for defense secretary or another national security post. She was one of the only Democrats who met with Trump during his transition in 2016, as he was interviewing people for posts in his administration.”

And during a Fox News town hall in South Carolina last month, host Laura Ingraham listed a number of possible VP picks that included Gabbard. “All of those people are good — they’re all solid,” Trump said, according to the report.

The thing about political speculation compared to political accomplishments, however, is that when the speculation fades, there’s nothing left. If you accomplished something, you and the public know it. If not, then pau.

The question for the former congresswoman is if there are any accomplishments to measure. The answer will define Gabbard’s political future.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.