On Tuesday’s broadcast of Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, outgoing-Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) offered up some of his plans once leaving office, which mostly deal with a potential 2016 run for the Republican presidential nomination.
Perry explained that he would be staying busy and cited trips to three of the early presidential primary states.
“I suspect I’ll still be on call 24/7,” Perry said. It just may be in a little different role. I’m not going to ride off into the sunset. I’m going to continue to stay engaged, and you know, go do some private sector things. And who knows? We’ll be in Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina during that period of time, too. So we’re going to be staying busy.”
As for his 2016 plans specifically, Perry explained he wasn’t ready to announce yet, but admitted he was laying the groundwork for a run, noting the need for a different “vision” for the country.
“I don’t think anybody’s surprised, and I’m not being coy about the preparation work that we’ve been doing for the last 24 months,” he explained. “And there’s huge preparation that a person has to do to be ready to run for the presidency of the United States. So we’re not ready to announce anything, yet, but if we do decide to run, we will be prepared, and I think that’s what people want to see. They are ready. Pessimism has really swept across this country. I think that’s what happened on the fourth of November. You saw a pessimistic America telling this president we weren’t happy with his vision.”
“We weren’t happy with this recalcitrance,” Perry added. “We weren’t happy with his executive orders. And we weren’t happy with the direction he was taking this country. And we sure weren’t happy with the gridlock in Washington, D.C. So they’re ready for a positive vision of this country, that our better days are ahead of us, and you know, whether I decide to run for the presidency or not, that’s going to be my message, because there is a blueprint for that type of optimism. There is still an optimistic place in America. In fact, there are a number of optimistic places. I look to Florida, I look to the Carolinas, I look to Texas, obviously, and there are some good things going on in America. We just need it to happen in more than just four or five states.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.