While his focus is shifting beyond the governor's office, Rick Perry plans to use his record as Texas' chief executive as a first argument in why he deserves serious consideration in a potential presidential run.
"Americans are looking for competent leadership. They’re looking for someone who has the experience of having a record that is an optimistic, positive vision of the future of this country," Perry recently told the
San Antonio Express-News.
While happy to tout his own economic record, Perry dismisses the term "miracle," preferring to use "model" when describing the record job growth that occurred in the Lone Star State during his administration.
"Those that use the word 'miracle' are misinformed," Perry said. "I can’t explain a miracle. I can explain this.
"This is a Texas model, Americans are looking for a positive view of the future, and I believe that the greatest days of America are ahead of us," he added.
Under Perry, Texas was the nation's top exporter for 11 years in a row and, in 2012, the state had a real GDP growth rate of 4.8 percent, compared to the U.S. growth rate of 2.5 percent. Both of these points Perry made when he attended the January's
World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland — the only governor to attend.
While critics attack Perry for holding watch over a rising number of uninsured individuals, others say it might be sliding oil prices that hold the greater peril for the state.
"As we weigh the evidence, we think Texas will, at the least, have a rough 2015 ahead, and is at risk of slipping into a regional recession," said J.P. Morgan Chase chief economist Michael Feroli, reports
The Wall Street Journal.
In order to improve his chances of success after performing poorly in 2012, Perry recognizes that he must expand his campaign beyond simply being the longest-serving governor in Texas' history.
He recently told the Journal that his
record is "a foundation, but it’s nowhere near enough."
And has started to study up on the issues by bringing in experts to brief him a range of topics from healthcare and energy to entitlements and immigration, according to the Journal.
"Whoever the Republican nominee is, whether it's me or someone else, I hope we will have a legitimate intellectual conversation with the American people about federalism and how to make Washington inconsequential in people's lives," Perry told
Fox News.
He also has turned the focus of his attacks away from Texas Democrats to national figures, particularly national figures with presidential aspirations of their own.
"She’s got a lot of questions about her performance, about the positions she’s had, whether it’s Benghazi or whether it’s allowing the Iranians to head towards a nuclear weapon. I mean, the list is pretty long of her foreign policy debacles," said Perry of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a recent radio interview, reports the
Houston Chronicle.
According to an aggregation of recent polls compiled by
RealClearPolitics, Bush leads possible GOP nominees with 15.2 percent support, followed by former vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who has 10.8 percent.
Perry, who has 4.5 percent support, trails several GOP rivals, including fellow governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Chris Christie of New Jersey.
And a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey, cited in the Journal article, found that only 19 percent of Americans said they viewed Perry as a candidate they could support for president, while 39 percent of Republican respondents said they were not open to voting for him.
Among all respondents, Perry scored lower than six other possible GOP candidates.
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