The combination of his performance at last week's Republican debate and the recent Florida ""President 5"" straw poll exhibited the problems facing Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry. This challenge comes despite the early promises of an energetic campaign that began, essentially, with a 30,000-person prayer rally at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
Perry would be a step backward in a country already suffering from a fragile economy and two bickering, divided political parties.
There is no denying, however, that Rick Perry has the presidential ""swagger"" and that he still remains ahead in certain Gallop polls. Perry's face graced the cover of last week's Time Magazine, and in comparison to the heat that Newsweek took following its particularly unsettling cover photo of rival GOP candidate Michele Bachmann two months ago, Perry comes across as the sort of political figure who has, with a graying hairline and wrinkles of age, ""been there"" before.
His 11 years in office as governor of the state of Texas and personality is proof that as much as he wants voters to see him as the ultimate ""Washington outsider,"" he is certainly an insider to the political system.
From the onset, one of the most interesting aspects of Perry's campaign thus far has been his approach to the economy, specifically jobs. Consider the quote on his campaign web page, which states, as widely reported, ""Since June ‘09, more than 40 percent of all net new jobs in America have been created in Texas.""
Perry's Texan economy has, however, been the centerpiece of minimum wage jobs that most often lack health care benefits to employees. During a GOP Tea Party debate earlier this month, Perry asserted that Ben Bernanke should be effectively tried for treason because of Perry's belief that the Federal Reserve has masqueraded bad fiscal policy by the Obama administration. Popular economist Ben Stein, who acknowledged that he agrees with Perry on most of his social ideologies, called out Perry for his statement, saying that printing more money is an ""orthodox, classic move"" in a weak economy that would allow businesses to ""borrow and then invest.""
Perry is no newcomer to false statements, either. Most recently, Perry stated that the United State's poverty rating hit an ""all-time high,"" and while the rating is the highest since 1993, this is still 7.3 percentage points lower than it was in 1959, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Likewise, in a grossly inaccurate statement, Perry articulated that the federal government ""has not engaged in"" putting border security agents along the border, and yet research from the Congressional Research Service concludes that the Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations have seen a rise in border agents. Considering Texas borders more Mexican territory than any other U.S. state, Perry's statement is oddly terrifying.
Coming from an individual who believes Social Security to be nothing more than a ""Ponzi Scheme,"" it is not a surprise that Tea Party sympathizers and many Southerners favor the candidate. A man who has overseen the executions of hundreds of Texas prisoners (234 to be exact) and even administered a delay on an ongoing investigation following the possible innocence of an executed man should not be the President of the United States. Perry has also advocated for the repeal of the 16th and 17th amendments, as he wants to end both Federal income tax and the direct election of Senators by the American people.
Don't get me wrong: Rick Perry isn't a bad guy. He's the kind of guy one would want to get a beer with, but not the guy one would want as president of the United States.
Ethan Safran is a freshman with an undeclared major. Are you a Rick Perry fan and want to prove Ethan wrong? Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
