Posted on 11/12/2011 9:26:22 AM PST by Kaslin
In recent weeks I have been ridiculed, derided, mocked, and I believe even spit upon--though I was very near Wall Street at the time and it might have been rain-drops--for my prediction this past summer that Rick Perry would win the GOP nomination and beat President Obama in 2012.
Last night I swear I thought my pet hound was mocking me too.
Which is fine!
Political predictions sometimes are dead on--as I was in my 2006 prediction of Obama taking it all--and sometimes not so much.
So it was with special interest I caught some of the press tour Governor Perry did across the morning shows this today. With great humility, he was engaging, able to laugh at his own gaffe, and in all sincerity he came across as likable.
When I made the prediction this summer I didn't personally realize his extremely limited experience in the debate world, I wasn't even aware that he'd only participated in four debates in the last decade. He doubled that number within less than a month of being on the trail.
But being President isn't about debates, it's about discretion, discernment, and decisions.
The five reasons I asserted that Governor Perry would have the best shot at beating Obama were simple ones: He decisively created more jobs than Obama. He greatly respects and tries to encourage small businesses. He has a clear understanding of federalism and what states shouldn't be forced into. He has solid core convictions that replicate most of America. And he could unite the core conservative democrat, republican and independent across the nation on economic, social, and defense policy.
All five of those reasons, remain--even now--solidly relevant and valid.
However, he's certainly no where near where I thought he'd be by now. But before all the pundits completely write him off, let me proffer the four things he's got to do to get back in the game.
4. Remain humble, human, and likable: Self deprecating humor worked amazingly well for President Bush. Everyone watching politics at present (which is very few compared to the votes to be cast next year) already dislikes the fact that Mitt Romney is stiff and unflinching. Americans also don't mind a candidate being flawed. Hey... the nation elected Bill Clinton, twice!
3. Turn the gaffe into a theme: And in a way he already has. Gov. Perry had repeatedly said in stump speeches how much he wants to make Washington "inconsequential to the lives of everyday Americans." This is a red-meat applause line that gets tea-party and small government democrats and republicans charged. But there's a whole theme of "Forget Washington" ideas that could make for valid points of policy.
2. Stay on offense: The Wall Street Journal raved about both his energy and tax/economic plans. He's got tremendous skill on protecting the border and a high degree of knowledge on national security. He also represents the codes of morality, values, and conscience that the nation seeks in a leader, and no divorce, sex harassment, or issue flip-flop scandals to stare down.
1. Fight like mad, for the future of America: The people of this nation will forgive many flaws. What they wish to see in their leader is an all out advocate for welfare of the nation, coupled with the discipline of constitutional roots. So give it them. Take on Obama, show them the future with job creation under a Perry economy. Pledge to keep your watchful eye on terrorists and other harmful elements. Do your best 24 hours a day to make the American PEOPLE, their economic success, and their family's safety the goal of your presidency, and do it until you drop.
In the end winning the Presidency is about winning a very long marathon. I'm not sure if my prediction about Rick Perry will come true. But the reasons I gave for his narrative being the best one to face President Obama in the general election still hold. After all which person would you vote for in the general election: the guy who lost two million jobs for the nation, or the guy who created nearly half of all new jobs in the nation over that same period of time? And, who wants to get Washington DC's influence out of your life so badly that he literally forgot part of that bureaucratic nightmare called the Federal Government?
>>Agree with everything in your post except the last sentence.<<
I hope you’re right. I also hope Romney can actually convince me that he won’t just settle for “improving” Obamacare, instead of repealing it, or completely defunding it.
That’s my problem. A Republican Congress, faced with a President Obama, will just defund it. But faced with a President Romney, they will almost certainly get talked into tweaking it, especially if the Senate Dems filibuster a repeal. I just don’t think Romney will defund it; he’s got too much invested in Romneycare, and will be tempted to “fix” what’s wrong with Romneycare at the national level, i.e., he’ll tweak Obamacare, which would be a disaster and we’d lose any chance of getting rid of it.
Obamacare is a make or break issue for me. We keep it; we’re toast as a country, because it will bankrupt us, while imperiling our health simultaneously.
Surprise surprise folks...Perry has laid his foundation and his blitz has begun. Perry was ask a question about his poll numbers...and he said well it took a while for my wife to warm up to me and marry me. What a GREAT ANSWER to that question.
As long as I’m at it, here’s a sane plan that could be substituted for the insane individual mandate (my own idea, held, in print, since 1993.) This idea, by the way, would be incorporated within a system of private health insurance, not a government plan.
All the government would have to do is establish a grace period during which virtually everyone, whether wheelchair bound, on dialysis, etc., could sign up for an individual plan as a Fully Insurable Individual. As long as we sign up during the grace period, premiums would be the same as for any other individual.
Fail to sign up during the grace period and you lose the status of a Fully Insurable Individual and any insurance company could lawfully require a physical and could exclude any pre-existing conditions while charging the normal premium they charge everyone else of your age and sex, or require a rider and an additional premium associated with that rider.
When a person turns, say, 19, they would enter an automatic 6 months grace period during which they would be a Fully Insurable Individual. Fail to get insured during that time - lose that status and be subject to a physical.
If, after losing the status, one eventually passed a physical later and was given a clean policy, they would re-acquire the status of a Fully Insurable Individual (FII).
I won’t go into any more of the details here, unless someone wants me too, but essentially the Fully Insurable Individual status would replace the need for an individual mandate, and would allow the private insurance market to function properly. It would also provide a convenient avenue for government to play a role in ensuring that those too down-on-their-luck to maintain coverage could still have insurance, by subsidizing the cost of the most basic policy available so that they could retain their FII status.
Well, a comeback sure doesn’t seem likely, but then again, who expected Gingrich to be where he is now? It’s a wacky primary season, to put it mildly.
But I saw Rasmussen yesterday saying Perry has a 25% approval rating, which is about as bad as it gets. Cain was even at 37%, I believe. The only reason I took note is because I recall as Sarah Palin was hovering between 38-42% approval, posters around here were saying it was proof how very hated she was in the public, and why she shouldn’t even get the slightest notion to run. Oookay.
NO!!!!
I had never seen the word you used in your post before...here’s the definition for others if necessary.
Roting is a stoner slang form of the word Rotating aptly named for the “spinning” sensation inebriation can cause.
No one will have to teach Governor Perry how to salute .
Anybody else see Barry on the USS Carl Vinson yesterday ?
I swear , at first , I thought he was talking on a cell phone
when he appeared on the flight deck-
that’s how pathetic his salute looked.
Then he was all mixed up as to where he should stand
in regards to the Colors
and he barely mumbled the words
to the Star Spangled Banner.
Michelle couldn’t even be bothered to try.
When Barry addressed the military crowd on Veteran’s Day , before a basketball game..
( apparently Walter Reed and BAMC were closed )
he brought in politics and started talking about how
“ he got / forced / made “ ( something along those lines)
Congress to do something for veterans.
Click..I couldn’t take it.
“As long as I’m at it, here’s a sane plan that could be substituted for the insane individual mandate (my own idea, held, in print, since 1993.) This idea, by the way, would be incorporated within a system of private health insurance, not a government plan.”
Perhaps I’m missing something, but this is not a mandate HOW? It mandates that insurers insure people at rates below actuarial break-even; it mandates that the Fully Insureable Individual make a decision within your timeframes.
You don’t defeat a bad idea by meeting it halfway. Given the ‘93 date, I’m guessing you cooked this up in response to Hillarycare. Others fought it tooth and nail and flushed the whole deal.
Perry: I’m a long time Texas Republican, but if Perry wins, it will be without my vote. If the press follows up on the Texas Enterprise Fund, they will find crony capitalism that the Occupy Whatever crowd has not the wit to discover.
I haven’t forgiven him for the Trans-Texas Corridor, as envisioned the largest eminent domain land-grab and transfer (to a Spanish Corp. no less)in American history.
Pardon me, he really is as dumb as he looks; smart enough to hire good handlers, but consider; Gov. of Texas and he forgets Dept of Energy? Gee, Texas has a huge interest in what?
Sorry, GWB, the answer is still NO! Like the old compromiser Everett Dirksen said of Tom Dewey at the 1952 convention, you led uis down the road to defeat!
No, we can’t count on a Republican Congress to de-fund anything? Just what have they abolished since 1981? Was it the ICC, perhaps. Anything else?
You’ve described Barry to a T, at least he didn’t say corpse-man again!
lol!
>>Perhaps I’m missing something, but this is not a mandate HOW? It mandates that insurers insure people at rates below actuarial break-even; it mandates that the Fully Insureable Individual make a decision within your timeframes.<<
Two points: 1) It does not mandate that insurers insure below breakeven. They can set their rates anywhere they want. It’s a free market, not a government-mandated one. If they don’t want to participate, they don’t have to. (I would point out, regarding insuring pre-existing conditions, that this happens virtually every day, across the country, at all insurance companies, because when a new employee is hired and takes the family health insurance policy, the company group policy insures his/her family at the same rate as everyone else, even if they have a spouse or child with a significant health issue.)
2. Yes, the individual must make a decision within a time frame. But he’s not mandated to make the decision. He can take his chances if he wants. It’s not a mandate; it’s a rule of the game. There’s a difference.
And this would work. By the way, I ran on this platform for a state legislative office in 1992 (the same year Clinton won, pre-Hillary-Care, and wrote it up to get it out of my system in 1993, published it, and let it go...and yes, I lost, but it’s a good idea.)
If you want to criticize it, use logic, not semantics.
>>No, we can’t count on a Republican Congress to de-fund anything<<
Up to now, you’re right. But if we get a Tea-Party-supported Congress in 2013, that could very well change. If it doesn’t, we’ll need to kick out a lot of Republicans.
My main point still stands. You have to de-fund the Left completely, or they will just burrow into their bureaucratic offices and wait us out. You have to throw them out of their offices and force them to join the private labor market (where most of them would probably have to wait tables or drive cabs...and I’m not too sure they’d be capable of driving cabs...)
Perry did well in the Debate tonight from SC.
ROTFL-----now that's funny.
Betcha the voters in Texas know their governor is deader than a horse thief at the end of a rope.
LOL.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.