Rick Perry’s Moment

Success in national politics almost always comes down to timing.

Running for president is a deeply personal decision, because it requires unparalleled discipline and endurance, a wildly unreasonable invasion of privacy, and, as Gov. Haley Barbour (R., Miss.) has pointed out, a willingness to make a ten-year personal and family commitment.

The Republican primary field is mostly complete, but it leaves many on the right wanting. They believe it does not contain the next Ronald Reagan, the kind of candidate who can directly attack the policies of President Obama while uniting the conservative movement.

Texas governor Rick Perry has a golden opportunity to fill the vacuum. He did not envision being in the position that he finds himself in now — no one could have. The dominoes had to fall in a certain way, in a certain order.

Many candidates who could have filled the hole in the current field passed, for their own reasons. Governor Barbour would have been the southern candidate with significant financial backing. Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.) would have been the social conservative with Reagan-like communication abilities. Sen. John Thune (S.D.) would have been a next-generation candidate in the vein of Obama. Gov. Mitch Daniels (Ind.) would have been the serious candidate laser-focused on the debt.

Read More at National Review by Matt Mackowiak, National Review