Must See TV For Polical Junkies

If you are a political junkie the next 48 hours will be politics on steroids.

We start off tonight with the Republican Presidential Candidate debate from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.  This evening’s festivities feature the unveiling of Republican front runner, Texas Governor Rick Perry.  This is Perry’s first debate of the race.  While he has soared to a 15 point lead over Romney there are many who question how he will hold up under the intense scrutiny of a national campaign.  Will Perry’s outrageous statements come back to haunt him?  Will he be able to defend some of his more controversial views expressed in his recently published book, “Fed Up”?  Will he come across as a savvy seasoned leader or another Texas governor prone to malapropos and bombast?

Perry’s primary opponent is former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney.  Romney was the perfunctory nominee until Perry entered the race.  He had been content to lie in the shadows while Bachmann, Pawlenty, Gingrich and the like beat each other’s brains out.  However, once Perry declared Romney seemed to lose his footing.  He veered to the right in an effort to offset some of Perry’s Tea Party support.  This radical departure from the centrist flip-flopper that we have all come to know did not suit him.  Romney is ill-equipped to take on the mantle of attack dog that Perry relishes.  Which Romney will we see tonight?  Will go Romney go after Perry or will he return to the mundane manager of the middle?

On Thursday night we will be treated to the President’s highly publicized, overly hyped address to the joint session of Congress.  You may recall that the President wanted to give this address at the same time the aforementioned Republican debate was taking place.  Like everything else that this President asks of Congress, they said “No”.  So the President was forced to move his address to Thursday night AND time it so as not to conflict with the opening night telecast of the NFL’s regular season.  After all what is more important… the President outlining his plans to avoid a double dip recession and cure 9.1% unemployment or Packers/Saints?  Stupid question!  Will the President “Go Big” and offer a broad sweeping proposal to increase jobs by repairing our schools and modernizing our infrastructure?  Or will he nibble around the edges with small initiatives that have a better chance of passage by an uncooperative Congress?  Many feel that Obama’s chances for re-election hang in the balance. Given the recently released figures showing that the economy produced zero new jobs in August and the studies showing that for the first time ever 3 out of every 5 people living in poverty are no longer children or the elderly but working-age people ages 18-34…they may be right.

The next 48 hours promises to be must see TV.