MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011
Recent history explained: Kevin Drum does a post about Rick Perry’s “spectacular fall from grace.” In a way, this is a case of recent history explained.
Perry has been governor of Texas for ten years. He’s the right age to be running for president. By normal standards, he should have been on everyone’s short list this year.
But he wasn’t on anyone’s short list, not even his own, as became clear when he published the kooky book which has caused some of his problems. Why wasn’t Perry on short lists?
You could imagine it was a case of Bush blowback. No one thought the public would want another governor of Texas in the White House.
Second possible explanation: Perry wasn’t on short lists because nobody really thought he would be up to the task.
I always wondered why Kay Bailey Hutchison thought Perry was vulnerable. That wasn't something the national media looked into in the run up to Perry's candidacy, but now we are getting a sense of what Sen. Hutchison saw.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite possible that Perry is not up the job of President, but IMHO Kevin Drums's list of eight boo-boos tell us little about how well he would do the job.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that someone, not Perry, painted a location name that included a racial slur on a rock somewhere over twenty years ago is a ridiculous charge. Only the most biased of media would make a news story out of this.
Drum's other points do show Perry doing less than he might in how he communicates. Perry deserves criticism in these areas. However, none of them speak to his management ability, his integrity, his willingness to put the good of the country over political considerations, his economic and financial know-how, his compassion, his commitment, his work habits, his ability to select highly qualified people, his bigotry or lack thereof, his negotiating skills, his military and foreign affairs know-how, etc.
IMHO we've had a string of mediocre Presidents going quite a ways back. I think the fact that candidates are vetted in so many inconsequential ways is one reason we haven't seen better candidates. I blame the media for focusing on minutae.
David,
ReplyDeleteDrum wasn't discussing Perry's actual fitness for office, just the disastrous nature of his campaign missteps. This is obvious from his statement: "...you can't truly grasp the full scope of Perry's train wreck campaign unless you see the whole list in one place."
The original story about the rock outside Perry's hunting camp was published in the Washington Post-- perhaps that could be considered "the most biased of media," though they have tilted toward and against both conservative and liberal figures at various times (see the Howler archives for innumerable examples of the Post unfairly attacking liberals). However, a brief perusal of the story shows that there's more to it than your uninformed oversimplification. You may not believe that, but you're welcome to apply for an editor position at the Post, if you think they need help in that area.