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Politico's report today that Rick Perry is actively calling Iowans to assess his chances in the run-up to the Ames poll comes at an amazing moment for the Texas Governor: he has become the leading anti-Obama candidate (if he runs).
What Pete Wehner has summarized as the bleak/horrible/awful/God-awful/dismal/terrible/absolutely flat out terrible jobs report this week may be the biggest blow yet to Obama's presidency.
Now well past two and a half years from the Bush presidency, he can no longer blame his predecessor with any credibility except among the hardcore left who will still be blaming bad things 20 years from now on Bush. And Obama has virtually nothing to which he can point that shows his actions will result in an improved economy. The class warfare, the stimulus, the health care law, his empty promises to reform regulations, etc., etc., are all the wrong answer. And Americans know it.
Enter Rick Perry. His state created more than half of all new jobs in America in the past decade and 37 percent of new jobs since the recession.
Obama is the anti-jobs President. Rick Perry, if he gets into the race, is the pro-jobs candidate. And that makes him the anti-Obama candidate in a way that the others cannot be.
One of the main reasons so many Republican observers wanted Mitch Daniels to get into the race was because he was perfectly positioned as the anti-Obama on the issues of debt and deficit. His parsimonious fiscal fortitude stood out in stark contrast with Obama's deficit-spiking, debt-driven, spending-addicted presidency.
But the jobs report has rendered an even more painful verdict on Obama less than a year and a half before November 2012. Perry can take advantage of the moment and position himself as the quintessential opposite of Obama. He stands out from the pack pretty clearly.
Romney's experience with health care will always prevent him from being the best anti-Obama candidate.
Pawlenty's main credentials boil down to having succeeded as a conservative governor in a blue state, but his anti-Obama credentials are thin.
Bachmann is the anti-Obama ideologically. She is as conservative as he is liberal, which is why she has skyrocketed on the back of conservative voters' enthusiasm. But this type of opposition to Obama is less weighty than Perry's.
Huntsman worked for Obama. Enough said there.
Only Perry can stand toe-to-toe with Obama on the issue of jobs and claim that, unlike the President, he knows what it means to preside over an energized, productive economy.
Plus, with Texas's economy about the size of Russia's, Perry has the magnitude of his accomplishment on his side: simply put, Texas is just plain big, and it's getting bigger by any measure - population, GDP, you name it. Only California is bigger as a state, and yet the Golden State is trending downward by just about every measure. Texas stands alone as a mega-state whose economy is a model for the nation.
If Perry enters the race now, the expectations for him in the Ames poll will be fairly low, meaning that he stands a lot to gain. He would likely have a top three finish unless he does something disastrous or embarrassing between now and then.
All signs suggest he's getting in. If he does, he will quickly scramble the polls and give both Romney and Bachmann a few things to worry about. And that will be because he will give voters something to be hopeful about: executive leadership that knows something about opportunity, growth, and jobs.
You've got to be kidding. Once again we throw out a true American and Constitutionalist in Ron Paul and support a pathetic excuse for a "conservative." Here's the real Rick Perry:
- He is a "former" Democrat who SUPPORTED AL GORE and was his campaign manager (!).
- He has been out in front trying to get the NAFTA Superhighway built through Texas.
- He wrote an executive order attempting to FORCE ALL TEXAS GIRLS to get the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade.
- He implemented HUGE tax increases as Texas governor.
- He DOUBLED Texas's spending and debt in office.
- He attended a 2007 Bilderberg Group conference (presumably to beg on his knees to be favored by the powers that be with high political office).
This is nothing but the one-worlders and big-government-lovers out to sabotage Ron Paul, the only true freedom-loving Republican in the bunch.
The message here: "Let's vote for Rick Perry. He says he's conservative--and hey, he just had a guy executed, so, you know, he's real tough. He's not been conservative, except for in a phony way, in Texas, so let's hope he changes as President!
Posted by: William Lockhart | July 11, 2011 at 03:43 AM
Rick Perry allowed imminent domain to be used to take land from farmers in order to build the trans texas corridor for the NAFTA superhighway even vetoing a bill passed by the legislature to stop construction.
Posted by: Russell | July 11, 2011 at 08:01 AM
** Slick RINO Ricky as President? Please. If you want a candidate who quotes the bible and constitution but keeps company with multiple young impressionable women (ala Bubba Clinton), cheats on his wife, lines the pockets of cronies, appeals to populist nonsense and has a third rate group of staff and political groupies, he is your RINO. Slick Rick is a joke and a disgrace.**
You made many allegations and spouted-off a truck-load of rhetoric, BUT, you didn't cite a single example or point to any pubilcation for proof. Must be a Liberal. Perry is the country's best hope to rebuild America.
Posted by: Bruce427 | July 11, 2011 at 12:38 PM
I am all over a Perry-Rubio ticket, though Petraeus was a cool suggestion as well. I think Bachmann, as much as i love her would hurt in a general election, whereas the media can't do much to Rubio and Perry will make the media elites look foolish!
Posted by: Andrew | July 11, 2011 at 01:29 PM
Rick Perry = RINO
Perry has done little for Texas. The office of Texas Governor is weak and has very few responsibilities (the light weight Bachmann has more responsibility...and she is probably the weakest in the current field in regards to experience).
Unlike all other states, Texas is lead by its legislature (as it should be), not at all through the Governor's office.
What Perry has managed to do is:
1. Raise Taxes billions of dollars on businesses and consumers
2. Executed health mandates against the will of the legislature and the people of Texas
3. Forced the citizens of Texas to pay for the college education of illegal immigrants
4. Engaged in the abusive use of eminent domain
5. Attempted to sell Texas roads to foreign interests
6. Pro Amnesty (in the recent campaign cycle he has taken to reversing this stance as the Tea Party has become more of a threat to him than the Hispanic caucus)
7. Engaged in wide scale cronyism by signing contracts for Texas projects to companies that give him campaign cash or for which is his former staff now work.
8. Misused the resources of Texas by having sizable security details travel with him at all times (abnormal for a governor)...even on foreign trips...all at the expense of Texas taxpayers.
Posted by: Cpaguy | July 11, 2011 at 11:34 PM
Herman Cain (a man who knows how to get things accomplished) or Pawlenty (a fairly conservative governor who actually had to do a lot of work to pass conservative legislation in a left leaning state) would make much better choices than Rick Perry.
Posted by: Cpaguy | July 11, 2011 at 11:37 PM