In a word, Bush.
“The last thing anyone wants is a reminder of the Bush administration,” says Lichtman.
The big question: Is Rick Perry more Texas than the nation can handle? Will the country accept another Texan as president so soon after the unpopular George W. Bush?
Though his background is anything but Ivy League political establishment, the Texas governor who many swear sounds just like Mr. Bush will be hard-pressed to distance himself from his predecessor as Texas governor.
Adds O’Connell, “To be a successful candidate, he has to cut back on volatile rhetoric.”
Indeed, if GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney is by the book, Perry sometimes appears to be off the reservation, such as with a 2009 comment that Texas could secede from the union. He pushed into controversial terrain when he signed a bill mandating that women view sonogram images of the unborn child and hear its heartbeat before an abortion can be administered.
