‘Today’ Being The Operative Word

The sad thing about incumbent Republican governors running for re-election is that they can actually use their office to get a tremendous amount of earned media in a way that even a consumate media vixen like Carole Keeton Strayhorn can’t match.

The problem? Every time Rick Perry gets some of that earned media it makes you wonder, “uh, if that issue is so damned important to you, why didn’t you do it three or four years ago?” To wit:

Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order today creating a partnership that will try to ensure the health-care industry better uses technology.

The operative word in the above paragraph is “today.” Forget the substance and topic. It’s that he just did it today.

Here at election time he, like Strayhorn, comes up with all manner of new ideas and innovations and rolls them out to get press coverage. The question is, ‘why didn’t he do something sooner?’