Perry Fiddles While Texas Burns

Now on the one hand, there is not a whole lot that a Texas governor can do when unusually hot dry winds whip and fires start and get fanned. A Texas governor can’t for instance, man a hose or drop fire retardant chemicals from the air.

He really has no personal expertise in directing a battle against a wall of flames burning everything in sight in Bastrop, Texas. Just about the only thing he can do is beseech the Lord God to send rain, something that hasn’t worked out very well in the past.

But when the fires started here in Texas this weekend, Rick Perry was busy trying to look presidential in South Carolina. He was on the stump in South Carolina while Bastrop burned to the ground. And yes, while there is not a whole lot that he can personally do, it doesn’t look well in the eyes of voters to ignore a natural disaster in your own state while trying out for a federal job in DC.

So Rick Perry is leaving the campaign for a bit. He even gave up an opportunity to participate in a candidate’s forum and give voters a preview of his speechifying on the same platform as Mitt Romney. And you know, it might just be my opinion, but I suspect that Perry is probably a little relieved that he doesn’t have to make that forum. He spent half of 2010 avoiding being in the same television studio with Bill White after all.

So this massive fire and property loss in Texas is working out all right for Rick Perry.