In a recent campaign speech, Governor Rick Perry, a Texas Republican, told his audience that the most important thing they had to do was defeat Barrack Obama in the next election.
Really? The most important thing?
More important than winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
More important than bringing the troops home from those countries?
More important than balancing the federal budget?
More important than reducing the federal deficit?
More important than protecting the financial good faith of the United States?
More important than reducing the unemployment rate?
More important than repairing our failing infrastructure?
More important than closing Guantanamo?
More important than protecting the United States from another terrorist attack?
If that's true, if he really believes what he said, then he would, naturally, not want to do any of those things while Obama is President, because, if any of those things happened, then it would be more likely, even if just a little, that President Obama would be re-elected, and Rick Perry thinks the most important thing is to keep President Obama from being re-elected.
In other words, the most important thing is to defeat President Obama, not to improve the welfare of the United States. So, it's good when bad things happen to the United States during President Obama's administration, because that makes it easier to do the most important thing.
If that's true, that would explain an awful lot of the things the Republicans in Congress have been doing lately.
So, once again, we are left with some options to explain Governor Perry's words.
1. He didn't really mean it, but he just didn't think about the implications of what he was saying before he said it.
2. He didn't really mean it, and he knew he didn't really mean it when he said it, which makes him a liar.
3. He did really mean it, and he thinks defeating President Obama really is more important than anything else that would be good for the United States.
I know what I think. Frankly, I think it's more than a little interesting that every time Rick Perry says something outrageous, one of the options to explain it - the common option in every case - is that Rick Perry is a liar.
But, whichever option one believes - he speaks without considering the implications of his words, he lies, or he really doesn't want the United States and, by extension, average Americans, to do well during President Obama's term - anyone deciding whether to vote for Rick Perry for President will have to decide if he or she is comfortable having a President like that.
On the other hand, if we don't do something about global climate change, and do it fast, it won't really matter who is President.
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Perhaps Rick Perry believes that defeating President Obama IS the best way to actually succeed at doing all or most of the things you list. I think a lot of people believe that. But I think many liberals like to tell themselves that conservatives just don't like Obama because he is a democrat or for more personal reasons. In truth, they just don't like his policies - they feel they are bad for the country and NOT successful (as is evidenced by your uncompleted list). THAT is why defeating him is so important - so that those things you list CAN be completed. This does not make anyone a liar - just realistic. This name-calling is another perfect example of liberalism. If you don't agree with someone, call them stupid or call them a liar. Don't consider that they might just have principles different from your own.
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