Don’t let the good hair and Texas twang fool you — Rick Perry is not the kind of person America needs in the White House.
Last week, the Texas governor threw his hat into the ring at an event in South Carolina by announcing his intention to run for President of the United States. He joins the likes of former Massachusetts governor and trapped-in-the-closet Democrat Mitt Romney, Tea Party candidate and octo-mom’s idol Michelle Bachmann, former pizza guru and Pokémon master Herman Cain and more.
Perry is the longest serving Texas governor in history (three terms), having been in office since his predecessor George W. Bush left for Washington, D.C. in 2000.
During his time as governor of Texas, the state has remained prosperous. Perry will undoubtedly run on this platform, taking credit for Texas’s relatively stable economy during the 2008 recession — a stability which was provided primarily by oil and gas companies.
Perry will also claim that as governor, he learned how to properly budget and spend within the means of Texas. He is not a fan of Obama’s current economic policy and will move to change it.
However, the office of governor in the state of Texas does not control the budget. The budget and Texas Senate are both under the control of the lieutenant governor of Texas, a job Perry held for a mere two years — half of an elected term.
Perry has also had trouble with excessive spending habits, but unlike Nicolas Cage, the creditors don’t come calling when it’s taxpayer money. As of May 2010, Perry had spent nearly $600,000 of taxpayers’ money on a rented mansion near Austin, which cost $10,000 a month. Clearly he has never heard of the Cottages.
Perry spent $8,400 of taxpayers’ money to maintain the heated pool at the mansion and another $44,000 on the lawn, according to the Associated Press.
During his time in office, Perry’s primary concern always seemed to be illegal immigration. Not education, not healthcare, not his excessive and questionable spending, but Mexicans.
While illegal immigrants are a drain on the tax dollar and it is illegal to employ someone in the state of Texas without knowing their immigration status, many middle- to upper-class Texans — the same people who oppose illegal immigration — employ one to clean their house, mow their yard or babysit their kids while paying cash for their services. I’m sure Perry personally checked the immigrations status of all the workers who cleaned his pool, cut his yard and kept the taxpayer’s mansion in order, though.
Perry’s focus was never where it should have been while governing Texas. Unlike Louisiana, Texas does not have a TOPS program — not anything relatively close to that. In-state tuition costs $9,794 a year plus another $10,000 for room and board in high-priced Austin. Once you add in books, travel expenses, etc., it climbs to $25,000 a year to attend the largest public university in the state. That just doesn’t add up.
So ask yourself this America: do you really want Rick Perry sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office? Yes he’s pretty, yes he’s charming, but his track record is not that of a ethical and responsible leader. At least when our credit rating drops our sex appeal will rise.
Parker Cramer is a 20-year-old political science junior from Houston. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_PCramer.
 
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Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected].