In 2011, the Republicans held a primary election to select their opponent to run against Barack Obama. There were 14 candidates, this is the story of one of the losing candidates.
Rick Perry became the Governor of Texas in 2000, following the election of George W. Bush to the Presidency. He left a complex legacy: taking credit for economic growth that exactly mirrored the boom and bust of oil prices, becoming a/the US leader in wind energy, guiding the state to have the highest percentage of uninsured citizens (meaning many people who couldn't afford health care), supporting the teaching of intelligent design alongside evolution, making abortions more difficult to access, against gay marriage and generally homophobic, killed 278 people via execution...
And so, based on this record, he decided he was the man to unseat Barack Hussein Obama at the end of his first term of President. He was initially viewed to be a friend of the tea party, charismatic, had the support of the George W. Bush political leadership team, and for the very briefest of moments: Rick Perry was the front runner and likely Republican nominee for President. Sadly (for him), he flat lined to last place and dropped out almost overnight, with Mitt Romney going on to win the nomination.
How did it happen so fast? This debate on the night of November 9th, 2011. He attempts to name three agencies he would eliminate in the government during a live debate. This was part of his "stump" speech: the speech that a candidate gives at every event, only adding in a paragraph or two to personalize for each event. He had listed the three agencies dozens, if not hundreds, of time. It is difficult to overstate the impact cutting the three agencies would have. Let alone the thousands of people who were regularly being told they would lose their jobs.
He only remembered the first two. It didn't go well. The agency he forgot (since it isn't actually mentioned in the video?): Energy.
Last week Rick Perry was selected by President Elect Trump to be the head of the Energy Agency (the Energy Secretary).
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