Why Obama Loves Rick Perry [Politics]

There is an old axiom in politics that says, "when your opponent is busy committing suicide, just stay out of the way." That could help explain why Democrats in Washington have been relatively quiet on Republican votes in the past few weeks against bills that create jobs, improve infrastructure, and protect police, firefighters, and teachers from layoffs. The Republicans are busy committing political suicide, and the recent poll by Public Policy Polling shows it. But what do you do when your opponents are busy killing each other? You root for the underdog, of course.

The Obama 2012 campaign feels like it's been given an early Christmas present by the Rick Perry campaign that any politician would love. When Perry announced his candidacy for President in August, he was catapulted into the lead and stayed there for over a month. That allowed him to raise large donations from both big-money donors and small dollar contributors across the country. And as the former chair of the Republican Governor's Association, Perry has formidable fundraising skills as well as the experience to stretch his campaign dollars. Those elements should make him the favorite candidate for the Republican nomination, but his past decisions on illegal immigration and mandatory vaccinations in support of public health have put him on the wrong side of the ideological fence from the Tea Party dominated primaries, dropping him to just 9% support in the recent CNN/Time poll, behind Romney, Cain, and Gingrich, and just 2% better than "none of the above."

At this point, Perry's chances of regaining the lead for the Republican nomination are almost non-existent. His recent moves further to the political right in search of support include everything from wading into the "birther" conspiracy to reviving Steve Forbes' much maligned "flat tax" idea that is actually anything but. Under Perry's plan, corporations and the vast majority of the super rich end up paying nothing in income taxes, because capital gains and dividends are not taxed at all, only wages. Now he's threatening to skip future primary debates to avoid the kind of poor performances he's turned in so far. None of these ideas are going to revive his faltering campaign, but they are the kind of ideas that motivate independent and liberal voters against the Republican party, and Perry has $15 million on hand to spend doing it.

That's why Obama 2012 loves Rick Perry. With the Presidential election just 12 months away, Obama can count on Perry spending at least the next three months of that time attacking the GOP frontrunners with his huge campaign war chest, essentially giving the Obama 2012 campaign $15 million worth of attack ads against the likely Republican nominee by proxy, while promoting extreme right-wing political positions that make Obama and the Democrats look moderate and reasonable by comparison. It's the extremely rare, perfect storm of a well-funded candidate with virtually no prospects doing the dirty work for you. And that's the kind of political gift that just keeps on giving.