Rick Perry's "Fed Up!" may actually win him some votes
You can鈥檛 judge a book by its cover, but you may be able to judge a campaign by its book.
Political books, those god-awful, ghostwritten, self-aggrandizing publicity contraptions masquerading as books are usually, well, awful. The Washington Post鈥檚 Ezra Klein calls them "autohagiography," since most politicians are about as close to being saintly as Thaddeus McCotter is to winning the GOP nomination.
鈥淭hese books are autohagiography,鈥� . 鈥淸T]hey have to appeal to everyone, exalt the author (or supposed author), and offend no one. That鈥檚 basically impossible. So they throw the need to be appealing overboard and instead settle for boring.鈥�
Take former Minnesota governor (and now former GOP presidential candidate) Tim Pawlenty鈥檚 recent book, 鈥淐ourage to Stand,鈥� as Klein suggests. In the following passage, Pawlenty describes meeting Ronald Reagan (well, sort of):
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have a chance to interact with him, but it was meaningful to me just to be in his presence.... What struck me most as President Reagan spoke to that crowd was his smile. He seemed genuinely happy and joyful and pleasant.鈥�
Genuinely dull. Boring. Uninspired. A flop. Kind of, sadly, like Pawlenty鈥檚 campaign, which crashed this weekend before it even took off.
鈥淧awlenty鈥檚 attacks are fairly limited,鈥� about T-Paw鈥檚 tome. 鈥淸H]is book is hardly the full-throated attack on a political opponent like Romney鈥檚 'No Apology' was. It鈥檚 not a law professor-ish primer on policy positions, either, like Barack Obama鈥檚 'The Audacity of Hope.' And it doesn鈥檛 have the campaign trail scoops and score-settling digs of Sarah Palin鈥檚 'Going Rogue.' 鈥�
He鈥檚 no Romney. Certainly not Obama. Not even Palin. Sounds like Pawlenty.
鈥淚 tried to read former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty鈥檚 鈥楥ourage to Stand,鈥� book,鈥� writes Klein, 鈥渨hich was perhaps the worst book I ever read in my life.鈥�
Pawlenty became the first GOP hopeful to bow out when he exited the race this past weekend. If we had read his book, we might have seen it coming.
Meanwhile, a new cowboy 鈥� er, candidate 鈥� has entered the ring, toting his own political book. Incredibly, according to some reviews, it鈥檚 not half-bad, either.
As soon as Texas governor Rick Perry entered the race this Saturday, his book moved into the top 400 on and is out of stock until Friday.
鈥� 'Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington,' 鈥� is Perry鈥檚 240-page manifesto on turning America around, Perry-style. (Ironically, the book鈥檚 forward is written by Newt Gingrich, now Perry鈥檚 rival in the GOP nominating race.)
In a column titled 鈥淩ick Perry鈥檚 book is good. Really,鈥� , 鈥淐ampaign books are terrible. I know that... Any campaign book, that is, except Rick Perry鈥檚 鈥楩ed Up.鈥� This is not a boring book. More to the point, it鈥檚 not even a book about Rick Perry. It鈥檚 a book about Rick Perry鈥檚 ideas. And his big idea is that most everything the federal government does is unconstitutional.鈥�
As Klein suggests, Perry鈥檚 book is essentially about the Tenth Amendment, the one that states 鈥淭he powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.鈥�
And unlike Pawlenty, Perry takes a stand. A pretty radical, one in fact.
He thinks Congress and the federal government should butt out of regulating the environment. And regulating guns. And protecting civil rights. And Medicare and Medicaid. And minimum wage laws. And labor laws. And education.
States, Perry thinks, are simply more capable at solving problems, than the federal government. 鈥淢ost problems get better solutions when they鈥檙e solved at the local level,鈥� he writes.
To his credit, Perry stands by his bold proposal.
In a November 2010 , he offers a state-led solution to the healthcare crisis.
Rather than forcing people to buy health insurance from a "Washington-devised program," he said on the show, states should be allowed to compete to devise the best programs.
"You let California, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Florida compete against one another, and they'll be laboratories of innovation," Perry said in the interview. "They will come up with the best way to deliver health care."
And in a fall 2010 , he didn鈥檛 budge when Newsweek鈥檚 Andrew Romano pressed him to explain how programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security would work without federal government involvement.
鈥淚 think the states are the ones who should be making the decision on whether or not they want to be spending their dollars on those types of programs 鈥� not having it made in Washington, D.C.鈥� Perry said. 鈥淚 would suggest a legitimate conversation about [letting] the states keep their money and implement the programs.鈥� He continued, 鈥淏ut I didn鈥檛 write the book and say here are all the solutions. I think the first step in finding the solutions is admitting we have a problem 鈥� and admitting that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.鈥�
Brash? Maybe. But it鈥檚 big, bold, and, to borrow a word that was once associated with our current commander-in-chief, audacious.
Let鈥檚 see if Perry can say as much of his campaign.
Husna Haq is a Monitor contributor.
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