Governor Rick Perry. Photo credit: Ed Schipul, http://flic.kr/p/8G4aDW
Rick Perry has officially entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The Texas governor announced his bid on Saturday, before heading to Iowa for a Republican Party dinner in rival Michele Bachmann’s home town. Commentators see Perry as a major threat to Bachmann as they share the same evangelical, Tea Party base. So what impression has Perry made in the opening days of his presidential run?
- Tough on the Federal Reserve. Perry’s campaign kicked off amid controversy after he suggested Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing treason if he printed more money between now and the 2012 elections. Responding to a question about the Federal Reserve while in Iowa, Perry said: “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion.”
- Tough on Karl Rove. Former Bush Advisor Karl Rove was quick to smack down the Texas governor, telling Fox News that Perry’s remarks were not “presidential”. Rove’s intervention led Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake at The Washington Post‘s Fix blog to ask whether Perry has a “Karl Rove problem”, as rumour has it the two men have an acrimonious relationship: “The Perry-Rove dynamic is one to watch… Their well-known history together makes for a fascinating narrative as the Texas governor continues to make his debut on the national stage.” Meanwhile, over at Time‘s Swampland blog, Massimo Calabresi reported that Rove is “pleading with others” to enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination. And it seems Rove is not alone in his exasperation with Perry. Alexander Burns pointed out at Politico that several former Bush officials were unimpressed by Perry’s comments, and that the Texas governor may have damaged his presidential hopes: “Attacking the Fed chairman probably won’t do Perry much harm with the GOP primary-voting man on the street, but it won’t do him any favors, either, with a national conservative elite that’s deeply skeptical of him as a potential president.”
- Tough on everyone, in fact. But Perry is unlikely to be worried by such criticism, if Texas Monthly is to be believed. Writing on the publication’s Burka Blog, editor Jake Silverstein pointed out that Perry “has never lost a race, something that neither his predecessor, nor the man he hopes will be his ultimate opponent in the 2012 campaign, can say”. Indeed, Texas Monthly supported this statement by running a series of interviews with political opponents who have been vanquished by the Texas governor in previous races. “Whoever runs against him, they better have all their irons in the fire when they come after him, because he’s going to have his ready to go. He don’t have many skeletons in the closet. Just be ready for a fight, ’cause you’re going to get one,” 72-year-old chicken farmer Marvin Gregory, who ran against Perry for agriculture commissioner 16 years ago, told the publication. Writing for CBS News, Brian Montopoli asked whether Perry’s “swagger” would be a help or a hindrance to his campaign; according to one Republican strategist his “grit” should actually prove a hit with voters
- Tough on Federal aid. Sometimes. Over at Swampland, Michael Scherer flagged up Perry’s attack on stimulus spending plans in the opening days of his campaign. However, Scherer also pointed out that Perry oversaw a state lobbying campaign during his time as Texas governor, which saw “millions” flowing from the US Treasury to Texas “for programs that Perry now says he opposes as fiscally irresponsible intrusions on state responsibilities”.
- Tough on non-existent regulations. Rick Perry came out strongly against a new federal regulation requiring farmers to get commercial drivers’ licences, reported Jonathan Weisman in The Wall Street Journal‘s Washington Wire blog. The only problem is, as Weisman pointed out, the regulation does not exist.
