Since Rick Perry stepped out of the protective shade provided by the beautiful Texas Live Oak trees onto the harsh, unforgiving light of the national stage, much has been said and written about his obvious unpreparedness—perhaps inability—to face the scrutiny of the national electorate or even of a relatively friendly and forgiving Republican audience.
But while some may have been surprised by the recent fumbling, stumbling and tumbling, like Texas tumbleweed, of the previously swaggering, “pistol-totin’, lethal-injectin’, square-shouldered cowboy,” at least one Texan was not fooled.
He is former Congressman Martin Frost who has been involved in Texas politics for 40 years.
Frost saw Perry’s predicament coming like the folks in Western Texas can predict and see tumbleweed blown by the late summer winds.
In an article Frost wrote on Politico already six weeks ago, he described Perry’s deer-caught-in-the-headlights moments to a T.
Frost writes that while Perry knows how to appeal to the conservative electorate in Texas, he is untested on the national stage.
Frost predicts—remember, this is August 12—that “[t]here will likely be a honeymoon stage with the national media when he enters the presidential race, but Perry will soon face intense scrutiny.”
I don’t think even Frost could have predicted how short-lived that honeymoon with the national media would be. But perhaps even more surprising, how short the “luna de miel” might be with his own Party.
Frost also brings up how similar Perry is to Bush: “[H]e sounds just like Bush. They both come from West Texas. Perry drops his g’s at the end of words, just like Bush, and even uses some of the same expressions,” and the fact that Perry may have to deal with “Texas fatigue…No new Texans.”
And then there is his up-to-then largely unexamined record as Texas governor; the fact that the booming Texas economy has not much to do with Perry’s record as governor; the fact that “Perry has slashed education and social service spending in a way that is unhealthy for a prosperous state — and would not be acceptable in many parts of our country.”
Frost concluded—six weeks ago—that Perry may not survive national scrutiny; that “No one should hand him the nomination or the election quite yet.”
Frost has gotten it right so far.
Martin Frost served in the House from Texas from 1979 to 2005 and was Democratic Caucus chairman and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He is now an attorney with Polsinelli Shughart.
Read more here.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.