Thursday, January 19, 2012

Perry Steps Out -- Who's Next?

Governor Ricky Perry of Texas is saddling up and moving on.

He lost his momentum one month into his campaign last year, when the GOP voters realized that he could not communicate effectively. He stumbled in debate after debate, quickly attempting to recover the surge of enthusiasm that he has initially harnessed when he declared his candidacy.

His support of the Texas DREAM Act also cost him a lot of support, including from this writer. The next President of the United States cannot waffle on immigration and limited government, two issues which have galvanized a fired-up electorate Fed Up with the Washington status quo.

The final nail in the coffin of his run for office, however, was in the New Hampshire debates prior to the votes cast for the first direction election in the 2012 primaries. Trying to distance and distinguish himself from his GOP rivals, he boldly asserted that as President, he would send troops back into Iraq in order to quell the sectarian violence that threatens the already tenuous stability of that nation.

It is amazing that the Mainstream Media did not jump on this outrageous flap. Perry's bold insistence on sending more troops, sinking more blood, wasting more treasure, in a country that the United States has occupied to mixed results, just defies all understanding or political common sense. The American people are tired of the wars overseas for limited gain and private profit. Governor Perry's outspoken attacks against teh waste and drag in Washington was commendable, enough that Congressman Ron Paul felt like a moderate compared to Perry, but the Texas Governor simply failed to get his ground work up and running.

A president must persuade, and Rick Perry either failed to persuade effectively, or he failed to focus on his strengths and the weaknesses of the current administration.

Perry had the potential to rally the Tea Party and evangelical voters into one composite whole, yet he failed to unify the two disparate groups, neither of which is yet sold on Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

His supporters may dissipate behind Santorum or Gingrich, the candidate which Perry has chosen to endorse. Either way, the GOP primary is shaping up into a more divisive and diverse fight that original expected. Perhaps Governor Romney will not sweep the first four states, as originally predicted by the pundits.

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