Perry is gone...no corrals on the White House lawn

By Jeff Orvis

Bad news for Texas. You are going to get your governor back. Rick Perry announced this week that he is turning the old horse homeward and will give up the dream of installing a corral and barbecue pit on the White House lawn.

What happened to you, Texas? You produced legendary political figures like Lyndon Johnson, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and former Governor Ann Richards. Jordan was a gifted orator, sort of a female Martin Luther King. Johnson, though he presided over the ill-fated Viet Nam war, he also championed the civil rights movement and the war on poverty. My favorite memory of Richards was her address to the Democratic convention one year. In speaking about the first George Bush and his back-pedaling on a promise of “no new taxes,” she said, “Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth!”

But most recently, it seems all you could give us was another George Bush, who presided over eight years of a generally failed presidency. Then Perry, who at least realized that he was in way over his head with this presidential fantasy.

A recent passage in the autobiography of Walter Mondale sent chills up my spine. He described how he and President Carter were concerned with holding off contenders from their own party in their re-election bid. Meanwhile, the GOP had this guy who had some pretty “wacky” ideas, seemed misinformed on a lot of issues and tended to over-simplify crucial issues. I thought I was reading about Ron Paul. But this was another “Ron,” with a last name of Reagan. Presto! Before you could say “Iranian hostages,” we had eight years of those wacky ideas.

In a recent Saturday Night Live skit, actors portraying the Republican candidates were present for a debate. The moderator said the winner of the debate would be determined by the candidate who could utter the name “Ronald Reagan” the most times in 30 seconds. It seems like when the candidates aren't trying to boast about being more conservative than the other guy, they are invoking the name of that guy who went from being a second-rate actor, to governor of the fairy tale state on the west coast to president for eight years. You never hear a candidate claiming they want to be just like George H.W. Bush or his gem of a son, little Georgie. Why not, guys?

I fear the political pendulum is swinging far to the right. But we still have about 10 months to see how this goes. Regardless of what the so-called “experts” may want to make you believe, a lot can happen between now and November.