The 2016 presidential race will be a "show me, don't tell me election" in which candidates have to be ready to trumpet a rock-solid platform to the nation or fade into the sunset, says former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is running for the GOP nomination and believes he's got political chops for the job.
"We've spent the time not only in personal preparation, whether it's on foreign policy, domestic policy, monetary policy, but also in those states building a really good foundation in Iowa, in New Hampshire, and South Carolina," Perry said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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Perry, who spent 14 years as the chief executive of the Lone Star State, which has the 12th largest economy in the world, said that experience will translate to excellent economic policy on the federal level.
"[Texas has] an economy that's basically the same size as Canada or Australia. We created more jobs from 2007 through 2014, 1.5 million jobs, while the rest of the country collectively lost 400,000. So it's not just the 14 years of executive experience, it's the results," said Perry.
"It's going to be a show me, don't tell me election and I'm very proud of the record that we had. Nobody even got close to doing what Texas did during one of the most trying times economically in this country's history since the Great Depression. That's when you really want to see how somebody performed.
"It's really going to get down to, do you really believe in the Tenth Amendment? Do you believe in allowing these states to compete against each other? I do, I've talked about that. I don't think that the federal government or a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C., can create curriculum for this vast diverse country, one-size-fits all."
Perry said experienced leadership at the top is especially important now.
"After what will have been eight years of a young, inexperienced United States senator and the challenges that this country has economically, the challenges that we see internationally with America's standing in the world, executive leadership is going to be very, very important to Americans," Perry said.
Perry is one of 12 official candidates seeking the GOP nomination.
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