Former Texas Governor Rick Perry received a strong positive reaction from the audience at CPAC when he said America must secure its border before we can talk about immigration reform. Perry also touted the Texas model that led the state to create 1.7 million jobs in seven years. The former Governor, who served fourteen years as Texas’ longest serving governor, described the Obama Administration’s failures in foreign policy.
On Monday, Breitbart Texas’ Sarah Rumpf reported that this was a “do or die” event for the former Governor. Perry wasted no time and told the crowd, “I came here to speak plainly” about the problems facing America. He told them he had three points he would address.
Perry’s first point dealt with the Obama Administration’s failures in foreign policy. “Our country has entered a time of testing and we are failing the test,” Perry began. He cited ISIS as a prime example. “They are a religious movement that seeks to take the world back to the seventh century,” he said. “We did not start this war, nor did we choose it. But we will finish it.”
He then moved to Iran and Obama’s plans to allow the Iranian government to eventually obtain nuclear weapons. “Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons – period,” Perry stated flatly.
In discussing the growing threat from Russia, Perry said that Putin has watched Obama’s weakness and inconsistency. He talked about the President’s failure to take action after his infamous “red line in the sand” statements. “The President won’t even defend the line between the U.S. and Mexico,” he said.
Perry said that comprehensive immigration reform must first begin with comprehensive border security reform. While serving as Texas’ governor, Perry met with President Obama on the tarmac of an airport. “I looked him in the eye,” Perry said. He told Obama, “If you won’t secure the border, Texas will.”
During a question and answer period following his speech, Perry went further on the issue of border security. He said people in Washington D.C. talk about border security, but they do not deal with it. “They talk and people die,” Perry said. “I had to deal with it last summer when Texas saw an influx of illegal immigrants and unaccompanied children.”
He said that securing the border must happen before any talk about immigration reform. “You don’t trust them to secure the border and neither do I,” Perry stated. He called for aviation assets with look-down capabilities to monitor the border twenty-four hours a day. This plan was part of a Texas Department of Public Safety proposal reported by Breitbart Texas on Thursday.
Perry stated his second point and called on the conservative movement to be an agent of reform. “Our nation is involved in generational theft,” he said referring to the government’s debt and excessive spending. He said it was time to lift up middle class income and bring success to Main Street, not Wall Street.
“The unemployment rate is a sham,” the former Governor said. “If Republicans won’t stand for the uncounted Americans who are out of work, who will?”
Perry talked about the Texas model where his state created 1.7 million jobs in the past seven years. The model involved lowering taxes, tort reform and what he called sensible and thoughtful regulations.
In a Reaganesque moment, Perry made his third and final point, stating, “I have never been more certain than I am today that America’s best days are in front of her.” He talked about Americans overcoming obstacles and adversities like the Great Depression, World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam. “We even survived Jimmy Carter,” Perry said with a laugh, “And we will survive the Obama years too.”
“There is nothing wrong with America that good leadership won’t fix,” Perry concluded.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and on Facebook.