With the Caveat that I will absolutely, certainly, without any question, be voting for whoever wins the Republican nomination no matter who it is, I'll admit that I'm starting to come around on Rick Perry.
Readers know that my primary political issue is self defense rights, but that's not really why I'm leaning toward Perry. This is really a two man race now. Bachman can't keep up on fund raising, and no one else was ever really close enough to being a major contender. So it's Perry and Romney. And playing my own devils advocate, I was thinking about what President Romney would be like.
He'd be sharp as a tack on the finance issues, and wouldn't need anyone to explain it to him. But the left would spend 4 years bludgeoning him and his Wall Street background, so he'd have to be real mushy in the regulatory department to placate them. And placate them he would.
In fact, I think he'd probably be all about placating the left. It would be 4 years of him being the kind of mushy politically expedient guy that Bush was when he advanced his deal with Ted Kennedy for the prescription drug plan. When the NYTimes and the Washington Post turn up the heat on Romney (and who in their right mind imagines they won't... after coddling Obama for 4 years they'll be rested and ready) I think he'll instantly become that guy who is for everything, except those things he's against, which he used to be for, but is now against. He'll do whatever they tell him to, within the limits of expediency.
In a word, I think Romney lacks guiding political principles, and the character to stick to them. I think he's more worried about being popular, and that's not the kind of President I want. I want someone who is confident of his place in the world and doesn't feel the need to ingratiate himself to the editorial writers. I don't think Rick Perry is under any illusions on that score. I think he expects to be vilified, and recognizes that there really isn't anything he can do about it.
Rush Limbaugh has this running story about 'winning from the right'. To paraphrase, he says that when politicians forget about the media (who are dramatically to the left of the general population) and run from right, even though the media hates them for it, they win. He has lots of examples of it, and I think he's right.
And I believe Perry will follow his advice much more than Romney. That's my main reason for leaning his way.
My fear is that if we vote for Romney we'll get a guy who believes he's smart enough to explain to us why we're all wrong on this issue or that issue, and how he can't stay to the right because he's too smart to be penned in by simple constraints like that. While Perry, I believe, is more likely to stick with his guiding principles.
Of course, Romney will be sticking to his principles too, but his only real principle is to say what will get him elected. And if I want someone to BS me, and treat me like an imbecile, I might as well vote for Obama.
7 comments:
Ron Paul speaks The Truth. Perry will do.
I have misgivings about Perry. Number one on my radar is that he seems to be like George W. when it comes to immigration. I would really like to see our borders tightened, and a scaling back of legal immigration as well. I don't think Perry will do anything close to that.
The other is that he seems to be a political animal. I am not sure the Perry we see now represents what he really believes. This is reinforced by an observation of that the Conservatives who like Perry the least are from Texas.
Immigration as an issue will disappear as we continue to lose our prosperity as a nation. The advantage accorded to unregulated workers will fall away, kind of like Gresham's Law applied to labor.
All valid complaints. Bur for you NJ guys I think we need to keep the regional issue in perspective. I understand that a lot of Texas conservatives have issues with Perry because until relatively recently, he was a christian, anti-abortion, pro gun rights, small government Democrat. In NJ, that animal doesn't exist.
I don't know for sure, but I think he switched parties in part because he realized that someone with his views would stand zero chance in the national Democrat party. Read that carefully... he didn't change his views, he changed his party. that's what I would prefjavascript:void(0)er.
I'm not sold on the man yet, I'm just increasingly concerned about Romney. Frankly, I don't trust him.
I won't vote for Romney, the primary reason being Romney-care. Social Security and Medicare are an approaching train wreck and its not going to be dealt with by someone who pushed a plan like Romney's.
Newsmax is reporting that Christie may now run. He will make a final decision in days.
I guess Perry fading a bit has made him reconsider.
I'm afraid that whoever is president after the next election is going to have to be sharply focused on fighting fires, and for once won't even have the power or resources to appease the usual suspects on the far left. In the short term, we're going to need someone who can function efficiently and effectively when everything is going to hell particularly with the economy.
I'm thinking of Derb quoting Harold Macmillan. The next president will be driven by "events, dear boy, events."
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