A short clip but an encouraging one if, per his Bernanke comments, you’re worried about him being too loose of a cannon on the trail. There’s no sweeter opportunity in politics to endear yourself to your base than by waging a war of words with a sitting president from the other party. He must have been sorely tempted after Obama’s (mild) upbraiding yesterday to go full cowboy here and lay him out to the great, great delight of tea partiers. But he held off and stayed on message, steering The One’s scolding back to his core message about jobs, where Perry will beat him every time. It’s odd feeling impressed that a guy with the retail chops to get elected governor of Texas three times might show some message discipline on the trail, but (a) most of us have never seen him in action, and (b) since he’s filling the red-meat tough-guy niche in the field vis-a-vis Romney, there’ll naturally be pressure to indulge in bareknuckle rhetoric more often than he otherwise might. The fact that he’s laying off here shows that he’s already thinking about the general election and independents. Smart.
Apropos of nothing, just wondering: What’s Perry’s biggest vulnerability in the primary? He’s golden on jobs and there’s little room to his right on social issues, although I’m sure Bachmann will try challenging him on abortion and gay marriage vis-a-vis the Tenth Amendment. His HPV policy has the boss emeritus fired up but it’s hard to believe a boutique issue will be disqualifying when the base is eager for a champion against Romney. That leaves immigration, I suppose, but it’s comical to think of Romney trying to outflank him on the right and that issue has never been a big part of Bachmann’s stump speech. Crony capitalism, maybe? Unless I’m missing something, there’s no glaring vulnerability.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member