Is this Rick Perry’s moment?

In order to capitalize on the situation Perry should use his free media attention to talk not only about the border but about other pressing issues on which he has significant experience such as energy policy. If he can do that — either in media interviews or in set speeches — he can go a long way toward re-establishing his pre-2012 reputation. He is, after all, the longest serving governor of a state that far outstripped all others in job creation and the only likely candidate on either side who served in the military.

On one level, one can imagine that if had not run in 2012 he’d be at or near the top of the list for 2016. However, as he has acknowledged, the 2012 run was both awful and extremely helpful to him. In 2014 we see a more mature and humbled version of Perry, one without the Texas swagger. It is that more serious figure, bespectacled and more relaxed, whom voters now see.

If Mitt Romney was too stiff and too “perfect” (perfect wife, perfect career, perfect hair) and therefore inaccessible to most voters, Perry’s 2012 pratfall has given him a way to relate to voters. Most voters at one time or another have failed (albeit less publicly) and had to pick up the pieces. In doing just that and demonstrating leadership qualities, most non-Texans haven’t seen he is laying the groundwork for a potential comeback. And we all know the media love to tear politicians down and then craft the “comeback kid” storyline. Whether it is sufficient to vault Perry into the upper tier of 2016 contenders remains to be seen.