- Texas governor Rick Perry does not support a petition calling for Texas to secede from the Union. (Photo: REUTERS / Chris Keane)
Secession petitions have now been filed by every state in the union, but GOP governors are saying "don't count us in."
As of Thursday afternoon, a petition for each of the 50 states had been added to the White House's "We the People" website; and many had already garnered the 25,000 threshold that the White House said would yield a response.
Since Barack Obama was declared the winner in the Nov. 6 election, Republicans have been turning inward, trying to find ways to regroup for 2016. Though four years sounds like a long time to constituents, most potential candidates will start weighing possible runs in the coming months, even if they don't talk to the media.
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Despite a difficult loss for Mitt Romney that included a razor-thin margin in the battleground state Florida, GOP governors have decided that secession is not the answer. "It's silly," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "We are proud to be part of the greatest country in the history of the world. Whatever our political differences, we are American first."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry agrees. The?Republican governor's press secretary, Catherine Frazier, told The Dallas Morning News that Perry "believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it. But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government. Now more than ever our country needs strong leadership from states like Texas, that are making tough decisions to live within their means, keep taxes low and provide opportunities to job creators so their citizens can provide for their families and prosper."
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, also a Republican, followed suit saying: "I don't think that's a valid option for Tennessee. I don't think we'll be seceding."?
Even the Republican Alabama?Governor Robert Bentley?who this week rejected Obamacare said through a spokesman, "Governor Bentley believes in one nation under God. While there is frustration with the federal government, Governor Bentley believes that states can be great laboratories of change."
So what's going on? Don't these GOP leaders want to divorce themselves from a Democratic President who they so hated in the election? Left without a de-facto leader, the party is reeling, just trying to find steady ground right now.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's told?Politico?this week that the party has "to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything. We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys."
Those words were shocking coming from Jindal. But other GOP leaders have also done an about-face this week. The?Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol?even suggested raising taxes for the rich, saying: "It won't kill the country if Republicans raise taxes a little bit on millionaires. It really won't." Wait. Did we hear that right?
You see, as Republican constituents metaphorically put pen to paper, most of the leaders are re-assessing. The question is: How can they re-package themselves with neutral wrapping paper?
Karl Rove's now-famous temper tantrum on the Fox News set when network producers wanted to declare Barack Obama the winner on Nov. 6 was a wake-up call to the whole party. To the GOP's credit, many of the leaders have not thrown temper tantrums this week - or signed petitions.
They're staying where they are. They just have to figure out what food to serve at the 2016 open house. Because in 2012, not enough people showed up at the door.
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