What a waste.

January 19, 2012

When Texas governor Rick Perry entered the presidential race, he came in amidst high hopes and immediately shot to the top of the polls. Perry had much going his way. He is an experienced campaigner and a formidable fund raiser. His record as governor of Texas is enviable. Texas has created jobs since the collapse of 2008 while almost every other state in the union has lost jobs. Texas has, in fact, created more net employment gains than all of the other 49 states combined.

Perry is plain-spoken and likable. On paper, his candidacy was viable and potentially unbeatable.

But then he got out on the stage and it all fell apart. His early debate performances were disastrous. Like David Clyde, the pitching phenom that was drafted by the Texas Rangers right out of high school in 1973, Perry’s record at the state level suggested potential greatness on the national stage. But alas, the performance simply was not there.

Had he not faded so quickly, and thus lost the scrutiny of the mainstream media, he would have quickly become another caricature of the tongue-tied politician from Texas.

All of which is too bad. Because what Perry was (inarticulately) trying to say is that the Texas model of low taxes, light regulation and limited government is exactly what the country needs. If Perry had had the chops to make the case, Republicans might have been a bit more confident in what is going to be a very close race to unseat Barack Obama.