On the one hand, you have taxpayers at home whose homes are threatened.
On the other, a TV appearance to plug a national campaign involving an election that is still well over a year away.
It doesn’t seem like it should be so very difficult to understand Gov. Rick Perry’s consideration if he decides to forego this week’s debate, but you can be sure he’ll pay for it if he does.
This week, the presidential candidate has hinted that he needs to be at home, trying to help those who have been burned out in the Texas wildfires, according to the Associated Press. “Perry says he is ‘substantially more concerned’ about the people affected by the wildfires than he is about the debate planned for Wednesday.
The wildfires have destroyed more than 1,000 homes in a week and Perry is hoping he can get help for those Texans.
“Perry interrupted campaigning in South Carolina and returned to Texas on Monday. He took an aerial tour early Tuesday of one of the areas destroyed by the wildfires.”
That seems like the sort of hands-on leadership that Americans are expecting these days.
Obviously there is still plenty of time to pick the next president, but one would expect that whoever that turns out to be, it should be someone who is willing to set aside a TV appearance to make sure that taxpayers are getting help in the midst of a tragedy of this scope.
Frankly, America needs a leader. It has enough TV commentators now.
— Chuck Smith