A Glimpse Into Rick Perry’s Heart
Sometimes presidential candidates can surprise you. I’m not talking about the inevitable gaffs that come from 24/7 news coverage or tired answers to endless questions from constituents. I’m talking about the way that some candidates let their guard down and take positions on subjects that may allow the public a glimpse into their heart.
Rick Perry doesn’t come across as a complicated man. He loves God, guns, Texas and America, probably in that order. He is a conservative Republican Governor of a very conservative state and he is trying to beat Mitt Romney and win the Republican nomination as an authentic conservative. He parrots all the right wing talking points on issues like taxes, regulations, religion, the size of the federal government and how he thinks Barack Obama is a socialist. Yet, he also has gone against conservative dogma on issues like college tuition breaks for illegal immigrants, the HPV vaccine and lately, Mitt Romney’s activities as the head of Bain Capital. A more self aware or overly managed candidate probably wouldn’t touch some of these subjects with a ten foot pole.
Already in trouble on the issue of college tuition breaks, he didn’t flip his position and calm the jittery nerves of the conservative electorate. Instead, he used his time during one of the debates to accuse those who didn’t agree with him as being heartless. It was, in his mind, a truly moral way to look at the problem. It rejected conservative ideology and the politics of xenophobia and instead acknowledged the humanity of the individual students.
He seemed to look at the HPV vaccine problem the same way. If you take away the charge of crony capitalism, you are left with his belief that he was saving the lives of these young girls. There is no evidence that the problematic concepts of government mandates or sexual licentiousness ever came up. When faced with an opportunity to save lives, he acted. Further, he seemed truly puzzled by the very real anger that came his way from some of the other candidates.
I have to admit that I didn’t make a connection between these two incidents until I was presented this last week with a third example of Rick Perry leading with his heart. While Newt Gingrich prosecutes a crusade of vengeance upon Mitt Romney, Rick Perry is saying a lot of the same things. However, he seems to be motivated by an entirely different mindset. If you listen to the way Perry talks about Romney’s profit motivated decisions while the head of Bain Capital, he seems truly offended by some of the negative consequences. Yes, he wants to win the nomination and this is one of the few paths open for him to get back into the race, but I am detecting real sincerity in his words. He isn’t using notes when talking about this issue in South Carolina and there is a passion in his delivery that has not been there before. He is looking at the very real and devastating human costs of this type of unfettered capitalism and has decided that it is immoral and heartless.
I’m not saying that Rick Perry would make a good President. I don’t think he is up to the job and I don’t agree with him on many things. However, his habit of putting personal morality above conservative ideology is refreshing, even if it isn’t deliberate. Now if we can only get him to realize that denying the LGBT community their basic civil rights is just as inhumane as denying an illegal immigrant the ability to go to college, we might be getting somewhere.
