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| Candidate Rick Perry, Source: CNN |
Presidential
nominee and former Governor of Texas, Rick Perry has fallen on hard times in
his campaign. After two shaky performances during back to back debates and the inability
to catch up in the polls, the Perry campaign has attempted to stay relevant in
order to stay in the race.
In a recent interview, Perry assured voters that he would in
fact perform in the next four debates that will take place in the next month. This statement comes after claim from Perry’s
own campaign that he would skip on future debates due to his poor performances and
consequential drop in the polls. When commenting on his problems with debates
he cited that "We've got a great debater, a smooth politician in the White
House right now, and that's not working out very well,"(cnn.com). Perry also offered some confidence with his
future as a debater. He claimed that due to the intensive schedule of debates
coming up in the next month, the practice will do him good and help turn his
impact during debates around. In keeping with the same topic, Perry also
expressed his confidence partaking in national debates with President Barack
Obama. During the 2008 election, Obama proved to be an unshakable debater and consistently
performed successfully. With such low approval ratings and Obama’s recent
failure to capture his audience the way he has in the past, it is safe to say that
his performance in the 2012 debates will be much different regardless of his
challenger. Perry, however, expressed his thoughts on the matter stating that
he is not the least bit worried and that he would offer a stark contrast to the
current president.
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| Presidential Candidate Rick Perry |
Other obstacles
faced by Perry have been his incapability of gaining supporters for his
flat-tax plan. The plan as gained criticism
from both Democrats and Republicans as it is Perry’s attempt to offer a tax
plan to compete with other candidates like Perry and Romney. Critics claim that
the plan seems to complicated, that the revenue accumulated will decrease and
that the taxes for the upper class will also decrease. Perry insists that these
criticisms are illogical and that he would rather money be kept in the hands of
private sector spenders than in the federal government.
Perry’s struggle to gain momentum
for his tax plan is highlighted by the fact that for the last 30 years support
for such reform has dissipated due to failed attempts by politicians to pass
flat-tax plans. Most notably was Steve Forbes during his presidential campaign in
1996; Forbes in now a Perry supporter. Forbes presidential primary campaign was
mounted on his flat-tax plan and he only one two states. It is very clear that
many people in Congress would be opposed to such a tax reform which hurts Perry’s
chances. There has also been a struggle for the candidate to explain the plan
in detail. There is also an option for American’s to opt out of the flat rate
of 20%, which is another detail that has caused both confusion and criticism.
It is clear that Perry will continue
the struggle to gain support and rise in the polls. Since the race for the
Republican nomination seems wide open the most important factors will become, I
suspect, debates. Not only will the performance of each candidate be closely
watched, but also their ability to bring substantial plans to the table and
defend their past records. The
resistance from candidates to drop out of the race is also a large factor. It
seems that most Republicans are waiting for the last possible moment to throw
their support behind a candidate. However, the closer we get to the first
primary in New Hampshire the more intense the race will get for Perry as well
as the other candidates.
Sources:
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