Don't mess with Texas," the famous saying goes. And from the looks of it, the warning could well come to summarize the 2012 presidential campaign. Only days after officially jumping in the race for the White House, GOP candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry has rattled the usually cool President Obama, prompting him to go on the offensive and acknowledge his opponent, a very unusual move for a sitting President when the election is well over a year away.
Obama lectured Perry during an appearance on CNN after Perry took aim at Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke. The governor said Bernanke would be treated "pretty ugly" in Texas if he were to print more currency. And then, dialing it up even more, he called Bernanke's handling of the recession "almost treasonous."
In a hardly disguised effort to demean the Texas governor, Obama took some jabs of his own: "Mr. Perry just got into the presidential race. I think that everybody who runs for President, it probably takes them a little bit of time before they start realizing that this isn't like running for governor or running for senator or running for Congress, and you've got to be a little more careful about what you say. But I'll cut him some slack. He's only been at it for a few days now."
But although, true enough, it has been only a few days, Perry could be the President's biggest political nightmare.
Perry brings the passion that many, even those on the left, say Obama has lost. He echoes the anger of the electorate and the exasperation with Washington that Americans increasingly espouse. Plus, he has the benefit of running as an outsider at a time when insiders are despised and distrusted. His impressive record of job creation in the Lone Star State offers a sharp and powerful contrast, serving as his most powerful weapon against a President who has failed to revive the sputtering economy and spur employment. While the rest of the country is struggling, Perry has created a climate in Texas that is favorable to business and unfriendly to regulations and high taxes. Accordingly, the state is thriving.
This makes Democrats nervous, and they are lashing out. In fact, Obama allies like Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) have already leveled charges against Perry's record of job creation, absurdly claiming that most of the jobs he created "are one step away from slavery" because of their minimum-wage status.
From a political standpoint, Perry also has clear advantages. He's an attractive and seasoned campaigner with keen instincts. He stepped into the race shrewdly on the day of the Iowa straw poll, stealing away poll winner Michele Bachmann's thunder. According to a new Rasmussen poll, Perry is leading among respondents at 20% to Mitt Romney's 18% and Bachmann's 13%. He is also a former Air Force fighter pilot, so questioning his patriotism will be futile.
Perry will surely be vetted and will have to explain past positions like his tax swap legislation, his comments about Texas seceding from the United States and the fact that he was once a Democrat, but none of these charges are deal-breakers, especially when you consider that President Ronald Reagan was a Democrat before he woke up and switched parties. In fact, it just shows that like Reagan, Perry cares more about the issues than party allegiances.
The left will try to paint Perry as a sort of George W. Bush on steroids and question his religiosity, but social issues won't drive the debate, no matter how much his opponents try. This is a jobs election, which is why Perry will be such a strong candidate against Obama. If the Texas economy starts slipping, he will face trouble. But that seems unlikely.
Although Obama might not want to mess with Texas, it's looking like he'll have to. And this could be the biggest threat to a second term he's seen yet.
andrea@andreatantaros.com
Andrea Tantaros, whose column appears on Thursdays on NYDailyNews.com and often in the print edition of the newspaper, is a political commentator as well as a corporate communications executive. She previously served as a senior adviser on a number of political campaigns, as communications director for former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-N.Y.) and on Capitol Hill as press secretary for the Republican leadership. Tantaros lives in New York City.
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