Governor Deval Patrick was in the nation’s capital this weekend, descending upon Washington D.C. to attend the National Governors Association winter meeting. Now in the twilight of his career at the helm of Massachusetts, it was in the District of Columbia that Governor Patrick speculated that he wouldn’t rule out an attempt to make it his home for four years.

Back in January Governor Patrick made it abundantly clear that should all-but-decided hopeful Hillary Clinton make a run for the White House, he would not be tagging along as her running mate. His reason? Because he likes being the boss.

That, of course, is far from a denial of his own intent to become our next commander-in-chief.

According to Politico, when “Asked in an interview whether he could see himself as a national candidate — not necessarily in 2016 — the second-term Democrat responded: ‘Maybe. Maybe… That’s a decision I have to make along with my wife of 30 years and she’s a tough one to convince… Let’s just see what time tells.’”

It’s unlikely the governor would make an attempt at the presidency upon leaving Beacon Hill as he’s currently embroiled in a scandal with the Department of Children and Families in which a five-year-old boy went missing while in the organization’s care.

“This all reflects badly on the Patrick administration,” said Jeffrey M. Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University, told the BostonGlobe. “There’s simply too many problems in too many places for us not to wonder if the governor has been spending the time he should have on management of the state bureaucracy.”

In that respect, it’s only natural for him to wait on his ultimate decision to see if the smoke clears from the entire situation, or it becomes a political Chernobyl.

And, perhaps, given a bit of time, history and hindsight will illuminate some of what he, his constituents and the Democratic party view as accomplishments for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, subsequently bolstering and fueling a possible run.