This last week at the Republican Debate, Rick Perry stunned the crowd when he forgot some very vital information on his own government plan. He was speaking on what government agencies he would eliminate if he was elected President: Commerce, Education, and Ummm.
Maybe he’s fooling us. For all I know, “Ummm” is an actual agency. I think it has something to do with the agency that oversees the investigation into bigfoot in the mountains of America. “Ummm…?”
Anyway, Perry had an epic brain fart. He clearly passed all the qualifications for his blunder to be recognized as a fart- 1) Surprised that it happened 2) Laugh because you farted 3) React to people based on how they react to the fart. It’s fact.
Perry didn’t try to cover up the fact that he forgot what the third agency is. He actually asked himself out loud what the third one was. Other candidates began to shout in different names, the loudest being the EPA. When EPA was heard, Perry simply agreed that the EPA was what he intended so he could feel less awkward. It was a quick bail out and reaction to the brain fart based on someone’s reaction.
The seriousness of the moment came when the moderator continued to hound Perry on what the third agency actually was, to which Perry replied “I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.”
We often look at our presidential candidates are super powered people, who need to be perfect in order to run a country. We look for a seamless version of an all knowing and wise person to take the oval office. And through these expectations, we forget that they are human beings too.
This whole Perry slip moment at the debate has made me think about what our standards are for “mistakes”. When people discuss Hermain Cain, some are disgusted at his sexual accusations, or the possibility that he had done something like that. Some people don’t excuse his comments on building an electric fence. However, though embarrassing, I feel as though Perry took his slip gracefully, and we are in the process of excusing his mistake and branding it as simply a mistake. It’s not the greatest thing to see a front runner completely lose their train of thought, but that’s why presidents read off a teleprompter in real life. Perry’s slip was disheartening and disappointing, but I have to admit, I think it’s understandable. If anything it showed such a human side to him- off script, off agenda.
I said before that Perry handled the situation with grace. The next night, Perry appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and did the famous Top 10 Countdown. Perry presented the “Top 10 Rick Perry Excuses”. And all with good humor and recognition that it was a genuine mistake. How do you think the public sees Perry since then, now that he’s been out from behind the podium, and embracing his faults and humor?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pz7JDSW0u8
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