Perry is the exact opposite of Obama

With one announcement, Rick Perry has overturned the landscape of the 2012 GOP nomination. His entrance was probably a big factor in Tim Pawlenty’s withdrawal, and everyone’s talking about this “top tier” of Bachmann, Romney and Perry.

First, I think all the talk of the suddenness of Perry candidacy is nonsense. When I saw him speak at CPAC, I knew he was going to run for president.

But I digress. A Perry v. Obama contest would embody the polarized state of our politics. Perry is in almost every way the polar opposite of Obama in style and in substance.

Obama is smooth. His rhetoric is soaring. His head’s in the clouds and he doesn’t care much for the minutiae of policy. He’s ivy league. He learned his political brand in Chicago, known for its Tammany Hall-style smoky backrooms and corrupt bosses.

Obama had no executive experience when he ran for president, aside from being editor of the Harvard Law Review. He was a state legislator who came to prominence in a single keynote at the 2004 Democratic Convention. He was a community organizer.

Obama is decidedly a liberal, even a leftist. His political philosophy of wealth redistribution was fostered in the company of some of America’s most radically liberal personalities. No one knows what his true beliefs are since his words are polished façade beneath which even his supporters can’t penetrate.

Perry, while a more talented rhetorician than Bush, is rough in the Texas style. His rhetoric is pragmatic, citing things like the Tenth Amendment. His head’s firmly planted in Texas pragmatism. He’s no ivy leaguer. In fact, at Texas A&M as an undergrad, his academic performance was less than stellar. To the liberal elites, who think good grades have some correlation to one’s capacity for intelligent thought, this is to be pounced on (I got a 3.86 in my major. I’m humble enough to admit that this isn’t that big of a deal).

Perry is the longest-serving governor in America, having served ten years as the governor of one of America’s largest state. He has a long record in Texas politics and served under George W. Bush. He was in the Air Force and has a bachelor’s degree in animal science (does that holler “Texas?”).

Perry is one of the most conservative governors in the US, perhaps behind Scott Walker. His political philosophy of low taxes and less regulation has led Texas to remarkable prosperity in a very tough decade. Perry is straightforward and while he walks the politician walk and can talk the politician talk, he wears his platform on his sleeve.

Plus, Perry runs. Obama runs, too, and plays basketball. But Perry wears a gun in case he stumbles upon a wild boar on the trail. Obama doesn’t care much for guns, and it’s not likely Obama has ever brought a gun to the basketball court.

But Perry and Obama share one crucial characteristic that guarantees a Perry v. Obama race will be a lot of fun. They’re both brutally efficient and ruthless campaigners, and both will stop at nothing to preserve their mutual record of never having lost an election.