Now, along comes another Texas guy who sounds like Dubya, but has a 10 year record of relative success on the jobs front. The major thing that's eating people in this election cycle is JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. Perry’s record, rightly or wrongly, gives him the best chance to monopolize that meme. The "social issues" (abortion, gay marriage, et al.) are of course important, but they don't weight on people's minds the way they used to. A guy who hasn't had a job in two years doesn't give a rip about Perry's doings in the Gardasil affair.
Of course, those are political considerations. Exploiting them adeptly will win you the election. The real question is, does Perry (or anyone) know what to do about currency manipulations of the Chinese, our vanishing industrial capacity, and our monetary policies? Is there someone out there who can be to Perry (or to whomever wins) what Paul Volker was to Reagan? Our problems have been many decades in the making, and it will take some real savvy to work out these issues prudently. So far, McCotter seems willing to address these issues, and to a lesser extent, Perry.
We all know the MSM will go all out to re-elect Obama. If Perry is his rival, the thing they will try to do is turn him in GWB in the eyes of the nation. The fact that he is Gov of Texas and shares some GWB attributes means their job will be easy. A lof of people buy into the line that Obama “inherited” the recession from GWB. Really, I think the Dems in general (and Barney Frank in particular) are complicit, but GWB isn’t blameless either.
I think either Romney or Christie would be hard for Obama to beat. Christie comes across as very competent and credible. Many here will call them RHINOs, but consider the alternative. In the end, I’ll vote for whoever the GOP nominee is.