Will History Repeat in 2012?

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won a landslide victory of 44 US States and 489 electoral votes to defeat Jimmy Carter, who was then viewed as the weakest and possibly the worst US President in the 20th Century. In 1984, Ronald Reagan won 49 US States and 525 electoral votes to usher in his second term as President.

1980 Electoral Map (Reagan vs Carter)

1984 Electoral Map (Reagan vs Mondale)

The liberal media sees a potential parallel between 1980 and 2012 as Governor Rick Perry surges ahead of the Republican pack of potential presidential candidates. 

I don't know who the Republican Party will choose to run against Barack Obama, but at the moment, Governor Perry has emerged as the largest threat to two groups: (1) The Democratic Party and by extension, the mainstream media, (2) RINOs, which include the Republican consultant class (including Carl Rove). Because Perry isn't their constituent.

The mainstream media are working long hours to mount campaigns against Governor Perry, who has replaced Mitt Romney as the poster child (and target) for their angst. The parallels between Reagan and Carter are simply unnerving to them.

Perry is a conservative. He's a close personal friend of rock musician Ted Nugent. For any of you who don't know where Nugent stands on firearms ownership and a host of other conservative issues, I wonder where you've been for the last decade at least. 

I'm going to tick off a few boxes on where Perry stands on some key issues:

• Securing US Borders - Perry favors a Mexico-United States Barrier to keep out illegal aliens. If Governor Perry were to enter the White House, I don't think that Arizona would need to fight that battle (in their state) alone anymore.


• In the speech kicking off his campaign, Perry said that he wanted to make "the Federal Government as inconsequential in your lives as possible". In other words, he'd reverse the socialist trends that have been the hallmark of the Obama Presidency.


• He is critical of the Federal Reserve's policies and of the Federal Reserve itself.


• He is pro-life.


• He is pro-America, unlike his potential opponent, President Obama.


• He is pro-Israel


• He opposes the legal recognition of same-sex marriages.


• He favors domestic oil drilling and exploration.

To be fair to Romney, I'm not clear where he stands on some of these issues. That's part of the problem. However, I know where Obama falls out on every one of these issues, and there couldn't be a clearer distinction than the one between Obama and Perry.

Forbes came out with an article on Wednesday, August 24, speculating on who Perry might pick for a Vice Presidential running mate. You can read about Forbes' speculation here. Not to be too big of a spoiler, they're suggesting that Governor Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio or Congressman Paul Ryan should be high on the list of potentials.

For Jimmy Carter, there has been some vindication in that it is possible to be a worse president than he was. Some of us who recall 'the Carter Years' never thought that we'd see it in our lifetimes, but we were proven wrong.