To Perry and Beyond

Jody Seaborn previously edited Insight, the Sunday perspective section of the Austin American-Statesman. Seaborn is currently the Austin American-Statesman books editor and has been an editorial writer and columnist for the Austin American-Statesman since 2011.

Rick Perry’s recent announcement that he would not run for a fourth term as governor in the next Texas gubernatorial election has many, including Seaborn, examining his last three terms as the governor of Texas as a legacy characterized by consistent conservatism, numerous appointments, and significant use of the veto. While Seaborn comments on Rick Perry’s  legacy  as one of the “top 10 longest running U.S. governors” in his July 8^th article, “Rick Perry's Legacy, and Future,” he assesses the likelihood of Perry making another run for U.S. President in the 2016 elections in a July 9^th follow up article “Just One More Thing about Rick Perry’s Future ….”

While the title of the editorial, “Just One More Thing about Rick Perry’s Future …” leads one to believe the article’s content will be at least 80 percent Perry-bashing, Seaborn’s focus is not primarily on Perry, but on many of the potential Republican presidential candidates including Marco Rubio, Chris Christi, Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Bobby Jindal, and Ted Cruz.

While Seaborn indicates that Perry may have “blown his best shot at the Republican nomination” due to a disastrous performance in 2012 (which was extensively scrutinized), he argues that many of the potential Republican front-runners, though “young and charismatic,” have vulnerabilities, which somewhat level the playing field.

Seaborn further asserts that “Democrats don’t have a deep, young bench” in comparison to their Republican counterparts, with Hillary Clinton as the only foreseen candidate, suggesting that the Democratic Party has no other potential prospects.

Seaborn offers no statistics to support his claim but refers to recent and highly publicized political events to back his argument  For instance, the mainstream media has ensured that nearly everyone in Texas between the age of 18 and 80 who picked up a newspaper, turned on the television, or used a smartphone within the past two weeks has some knowledge of Perry’s recent announcement. By the same token, the majority of adult Americans who resided in the U.S., especially in Texas, during the last presidential election have, at least, a general awareness that Perry ran for the Republican Party nomination (and know of his public blunders during the run-off). With that being noted, the intended audience of the article is broad, including Texas residents who are marginally to considerably familiar with current political events in Texas and on a national level.

Without many other substantial facts and statistics to back his argument, the article seems directed to anyone who would not challenge his claim. For instance, Seaborn’s claim, that it is unlikely that Rick Perry will win the Republican nomination and the presidency, proves to be accurate as neither 2016.presidential-candidates.org nor 2016election.com even list Rick Perry in the top six potential Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential election. However, the same two websites name at least six potential Democratic candidates, including Elizabeth Watten, Joe Bidden, Andrew Mark Cuomo, and Clinton. Though, 2016election.com shows Clinton currently leading in the polls, the website proves Seaborn’s claim, that the Democratic Party’s only hope is Hillary Clinton, is primarily an opinion, as the voter outlook has the potential to change, as the elections get closer.

While I do agree with his claim that many of the potential Republican candidates, including Rick Perry, have weaknesses, which have the potential of impairing their chances of winning the party nomination and even the presidency, I do fell that the potential Democrat candidates have weak points as well. Thus, from my perspective, Seaborn’s credibility is fairly sound.

Although I learned more from the assessment of Seaborn’s argument than the argument itself, I did gain insight about some potential Republican presidential candidates that I had little knowledge of prior to reading the article. My personal belief that Rick Perry has a slim chance of receiving the Republican Party’s nomination and winning the presidential election was reinforced by Seaborn’s editorial.