Former Texas governor Rick Perry launched his second presidential race with the release of a slick video emphasizing his executive leadership (“We have the power to make our country new again . . . A lot of candidates will say the right things . . . but we need a president who has done the right thing”) and a high-energy speech in a airplane hangar that looked like a mid-race rally instead of a kickoff. The speech drew heavily on his military experience, and he was surrounded by Navy SEALs and the widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle. Perry was enthusiastic but serious and deliberate (eschewing the bouncy and sometimes frenetic delivery we have seen), no doubt an effort to present a very different image than he did in 2012.

He began with his biography of humble beginnings — raised on a cotton farm in Texas (“Home was a place called Paint Creek. Too small to be called a town, but it was the center of my universe,” he said. “For years we had an outhouse, and mom bathed us in a number two washtub on the back porch. She also hand-sewed my clothes until I went off to college.”) His story provides a contrast to candidates like Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush and others who come from comfortable backgrounds. They are trying to appeal to “everyday Americans”; Perry tried to show he is one.

Source: Jennifer Rubin, www.washingtonpost.com