Barack Obama is 'greatest threat to US', says Rick Perry

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

Perilous Times

Barack Obama is 'greatest threat to US', says Rick Perry

Rick Perry has denounced President Barack Obama as "the greatest threat to our country" and called for him to be replaced by a new commander-in-chief "who is passionate about America".

The Telegraph UK


In his opening attack on Mr Obama following his entry into the race for the Republican nomination last weekend, Mr Perry, the governor of Texas, who served as a US Air Force pilot, said that American servicemen and women would "really like to see a person who's worn the uniform" in the Oval Office.

"Go ask your veterans if they'd rather see somebody who's never served as the commander in chief," Mr Perry said as he visited the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

Asked specifically about Mr Obama, he added: "The president had the opportunity to serve his country. I'm sure at some time he made the decision that isn't what he wanted to do."

The tough rhetoric from the new 2012 Republican candidate came as Mr Obama came within barely 10 miles of him in Iowa when the president's bus tour arrived in the state.

However, he had to share the limelight with the outspoken Mr Perry, who also caused a storm by suggesting that if Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, printed any more money between now and the presidential election next year he might be guilty of treason.

"If this guy prints more money between now and the election," Mr Perry said during his first full day campaigning. "I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion."

Karl Rove, former chief adviser to President George W. Bush, joined Democrats in denouncing Mr Perry. "You don't accuse the chairman of the federal reserve of being a traitor to his country, of being guilty of treason," he told Fox News Tuesday.

"And, suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in Texas. You know, that is not, again a presidential statement."

The Perry campaign declined to walk back from the comments, which will be welcomed by many Republican primary voters but could alienate centrists in a general election, saying that it was an expression of "frustration" with out-of-control federal spending.

Mr Perry, wasting no time after a late entry into the presidential race, also turned his fire on Mr Romney, brushing away his opponent's comment that he had no private sector experience and citing by name the private equity firm that the former Massachusetts governor headed "I was in the private sector for thirteen years after I left the Air Force," Mr Perry said. "You know, I wasn't on Wall Street, I wasn't working at Bain Capital, but the principles of the free market, they work whether you're in a farm field in Iowa or whether you're on Wall Street."

Mr Romney, whose aides view Mr Perry as their main rival for the Republican nomination, had said that "understanding how the economy works by having worked in the real economy" was "essential in the White House" and said that only he and Herman Cain, a pizza entrepreneur with little hope of being elected, fitted the bill "I respect the other people in this race, but I think the only other person who has that kind of extensive private sector experience besides me in the Republican race is Herman Cain."

Mr Perry’s late entry to the presidential race has had an almost immediate impact. The latest Rasmussen poll gives him 29 per cent support, a double digit lead over Mr Romney, at 18 per cent and Michele Bachmann at 13 per cent.

In his campaign-style bus trip through three states - branded the "magical misery tour' by another Republican contender Mitt Romney - Mr Obama made clear his election strategy would be to portray republicans as extremists who would refuse to compromise.

Noting that all eight candidates on the debate stage in Ames, Iowa last week had said they would refuse to support a budget deal with tax increases, he said:"That's just not common sense." He added: "I make no apologies for being reasonable."

But Republicans, buoyed by the fact that Mr Obama's approval rating has dipped below 40 percent for the first time, believe the president is in deep trouble and mocked him for remarking that he had "reversed the recession" before "bad luck hit, sending unemployment above nine percent.

Mr Perry seemed to be relishing the fact that both were so close to each other in Iowa. "He says he's on a listening tour so I'm going to talk to him," Mr Perry told the "Des Moines Register" newspaper.

"Mr. President you need to free up the employers of this country to create jobs. Get rid of the regulations that are stifling jobs in America."