NEW ORLEANS (AFP) – Sounding every bit like a candidate for the White House, Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry thrilled party activists here Saturday as he ripped President Barack Obama's "arrogance and audacity."
Perry did not announce a presidential bid at the Republican Leadership Conference, but enthusiastically heaped rhetorical fuel on the flames of speculation that he will join the crowded field of Republican candidates.
"I stand before you today a disciplined, conservative Texan, a committed Republican and a proud American, united with you in the desire to restore our nation and revive the American dream," the governor told his cheering audience.
Perry cast his conservative faith in free markets, low taxes, and limited regulation as the antidote to what he portrayed as Obama's excessive belief in government solutions at a time of historically high unemployment.
"That mix of arrogance and audacity that guides the Obama administration is an affront to every freedom-loving American and a threat to every private sector job," he thundered to a cheering, rapturous crowd in a hotel ballroom.
Perry, who succeeded George W. Bush as governor of Texas, delighted the crowd by denouncing abortion rights and assailing Obama's landmark health law and bailouts of big banks in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown.
And he blasted the president's handling of the economy, which he contrasted to Texas's first-in-the-nation job growth, and the swollen US national debt, which he compared to his state's balanced books.
"Americans voted for hope and got nothing but greater economic misery," he said, stressing "November 2012 is not very far away and we've got to be ready to elect Republican leaders up and down that ballot."
"Let's stop this American downward spiral!"
Polls show Perry far behind the Republican presidential frontrunner, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, and some Republicans in Washington express skepticism that the Texan could get a campaign in gear quickly enough.
But a recent public opinion survey found Republicans split evenly at 45 percent on whether or not they are happy with their current White House options.
"I'm hoping that Rick Perry makes a bid," said Regina Wilson, a Louisiana resident. "He can be strong when he needs to be strong, I think he has good thoughts, and I think he has the strength we need."
"I think recently he's done a real good job with the state of Texas," said Ditch, 73.
"I was enthused about him, about the potential for him jumping in because I know he's a good friend of the governor's," referring to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
"So if she thinks he's a good guy, I think he's a good guy," said Ditch. "If she doesn't run."
Palin, who has not said whether she will run, was on the straw poll ballot that delegates were to use to indicate their preference for the best candidate to take on Obama.
Critics of Perry point out that his state has high rates of poverty, and he would likely face fire over telling an anti-tax "Tea Party" rally in April 2009 that Texas might be better off seceding from United States.
"We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it," he said. "But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that."
