Rick Perry's No George W. Bush? Oh, Sure, He Is

As we get to know the current Republican Texas governor who might become president, we're being encouraged not to draw too many comparisons to the last Republican Texas governor who actually held the job.

"Biographical similarities aside, [Rick] Perry is not the second coming of George W. Bush, either stylistically or substantively," advises Evan Smith, editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune.

As the head of an Austin-based news service which covers Perry as the chief executive of the Lone Star State, Smith certainly is in a position to offer such advice.

Smith observes that there is no love lost between the former Bushies and Team Perry.

The fact that it was no less than top Bush White House aide Karl Rove who rose last week to slam Perry's attack on Federal Reserve Chairman (and fellow Bush alumnus) Ben Bernanke as a traitor certainly attests to the truthfulness of that.

And Smith wisely notes that Perry is much more "hard-knuckled" than in his predecessor in governing Texas, and that unlike Bush, Perry makes no pretense that his conservatism is in any way compassionate.

(I would argue, however, that in the current hyper-conservative political climate of the GOP, if Bush could come back to run for another four years in the White House, even he would be running to the right of his own eight-year presidency.)

All in all, Smith makes a cogent case, and for what it is, he offers good counsel.

Yet, at a broader scale, I think Smith misses a vital point. For most of the American people, Rick Perry will come across very much like the Bush they remember.

Smith's argument comes with a nuance that will be lost on most casual voters who are outside of Texas or the Capital Beltway.

It may be true that as a candidate, Bush would never have savaged the incumbent Fed chairman the way Perry did.

Article Author: Scott Nance

Scott Nance has covered government and Washington for more than a decade. He's the editor and publisher of the political blog, The Washington Current.

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