LAWRENCE AT LARGE: Can Rick Perry turn the joke around?

Posted 3/26/15

Experts and those who claimed to be ones said he was a natural, telegenic, good with voters and funny. He had multiple victories in his home state to prove he could run a successful race.

But in one of his first moments on the national stage, he …

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LAWRENCE AT LARGE: Can Rick Perry turn the joke around?

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There was a Southern governor who wanted to be president.

Experts and those who claimed to be ones said he was a natural, telegenic, good with voters and funny. He had multiple victories in his home state to prove he could run a successful race.

But in one of his first moments on the national stage, he made an embarrassing gaffe that was played and replayed on TV and scoffed at by columnists. Comics, both professional and amateur, enjoyed mocking him.

He tried to go along with the joke, appearing on the show of a legendary comic to join in the laughter. But people said his career was over; he would never work in the Oval Office.

Rick Perry after his “whoops” moment in 2012?

Nope, Bill Clinton after his dreadfully long speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Four years later, despite more rough bounces on the trail, Clinton was president.

In 1988, Clinton was a national punchline after he went on and on in a hot convention hall. Some delegates booed him and he and his staff were mortified.

When he went on “The Tonight Show” to try to turn things around, Johnny Carson broke up the audience — and Clinton — by placing a huge hourglass on his desk when the Arkansas governor sat down. The governor had planned the same gag, by the way, but he was told to leave his ancient timepiece in the dressing room so as not to upstage the King of Late Night.

Clinton performed well under the pressure and charmed Johnny, the audience and the country. He broke out his saxophone four years before he played it for Arsenio. It helped tamp down the ridicule but he was still not seen as a leading contender in four years.

I could also mention Nixon’s “last press conference” after he was defeated in an ill-advised run for governor of California in 1962, losing to Edmund “Pat” Brown, the father of former Clinton rival Jerry Brown, now in his fourth term as governor of the state. Six years later, Nixon was elected to the first of two terms in the White House.

So don’t write off Rick Perry.

I am sure many will say, “Rick Perry is no Bill Clinton.” True. But Perry, who was governor of Texas for 14 years, has advantages Clinton did not — the support of a big state, having sought the presidency before (1992 was Clinton’s first try) and plenty of cash. He also is running, it appears, without the personal baggage.

If you recall, even then “Slick Willy” had a well-earned reputation as a philanderer and a BS artist who “didn’t inhale.” I was editing a pair of newspapers in Oregon in 1992 and a local man brought in a friend who was an editor in Arkansas.

He told me story after story about Clinton’s incredible nerve and private antics. But he also laughed as he told them; Clinton charmed people even as they shook their head at him.

That year, Clinton became the self-proclaimed “Comeback Kid” in large part thanks to an assist from Hillary. Once again, after reports of affairs and primary battles, he was able to emerge largely unscathed, something that would become a personal trademark.

Sure, Perry will be called dumb, even with the hipster glasses. George H.W. Bush was called a wimp but he overcame that, in part by standing up to Dan Rather in early 1988. Will Perry, who was willing to make fun of himself on the David Letterman show after his 2012 stumble, find that moment to show he is brighter than people realize? Or is he really a handsome head of hair with not much under it?

He has his chance to disprove that. Jeb Bush is not setting the GOP on fire. Mitt walked away after two runs. Like Clinton in 1988, Perry has a good shot to win the nomination. It’s up to him.

Both Clinton and Perry sought the presidency after an extended run by the other party; the GOP had held the White House for 12 years when Clinton got in, and Obama will wrap up eight years in 2016. In some years, that’s an advantage for the party out of power.

So don’t sleep on Rick Perry. He’s been, to quote another Texas governor who became president, George W. Bush, “misunderestimated” before.

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