This weekend, the worst kept secret in national politics became official. Long time Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy for President of the United States. In front of what sounded like an somewhat small crowd in South Carolina, Perry gave a speech about the state of our nation and the failures of the Obama administration. His speech reminded me of someone…
That’s right. I said what we were all thinking. It sounded like it was written by a Bush speechwriter. I have no real interest in finding out, but considering they are both from Texas and have overlap in former staff, I would not be surprised if that were the case. That is not necessarily a good thing. While Bush was hardly Caesar when it came to oratory skills, his speeches were always thoughtful and well written, and were able to tap into some of the core American spirit, especially when painting a picture of right vs. wrong, whether it be at home or abroad. Perry’s speech was right on target in that sense. He set a strong contrast between himself and the President. He touted his accomplishments in Texas, such as the fact that nearly half of all jobs created in the United States during his tenure as Governor have been created in Texas, a state with less than 10% of the national population within its vast borders. He also cut taxes, instituted tort reform, and a bunch of other conservative-friendly stuff. Also, like Bush, he wears his religion on his sleeve, which is always hard to read when it comes to gauging the American public. That being said, it worked for Bush…twice.
In the weeks leading up to Perry’s announcement I have had this constant, nagging thought in the back of my head.
Will Americans accept the idea of another President from Texas?
Fair or not, especially considering Bush’s heightened popularity since leaving office (which admittedly is not saying much when you think about what we had to deal with after Bush), it is a question that will be asked and would be pressed hard by the Obama Administration if Perry were to receive the nomination. Besides the fact that this is obvious, there is actually empirical evidence for it…
Jay Lassiter is already pushing lefty websites making the argument! This was literally less than an hour after the Perry announcement. I have a sad feeling inside that this message could actually gain traction and overshadow the great things that Perry has done in his home state over the last 11 years. The average independent voter was easily swayed by a garbage, rhetoric-only campaign in 2008, and I do not put it past that group to be swindled again into thinking that the state from which a candidate comes from somehow diminishes his or her ability to lead and effectively fix the economy that President Obama has effectively crippled. It won’t be long until the major networks and talking heads are posing this question to the public at large, and it will be interesting to see how Perry can counter it. Hopefully he can at all.
