Those not listening to KVTT-1110 AM yesterday around 2:30 p.m. missed Mayor Tom Leppert's appearance on Point of View, a nationally syndicated Christian conservative talk show based in Dallas. We weren't tuned in either, but mostly because we didn't know about it until today's post by DMN'er Rudy Bush.
As Bush notes, the show's Web site links to Leppert's "top issues," which include education, health care and public safety. Bush writes that although Leppert has been silent regarding his plans to seek higher office, "the writing on the wall is impossible to ignore."
Despite not saying whether he'll run for reelection or take a stab at U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat in 2012, Leppert's new Web site is raising dough under the name "Re-Elect Tom Leppert." But leave it to Leppert to keep us guessing because we tracked down yesterday's audio (it starts at the 1:13 mark), and he sure didn't sound like someone running for a second term as mayor.
Leppert, who followed Obama Zombies author Jason Mattera, talked about why it's important for people running the country to have business experience. Oh, and by the way, he has business experience.
He also discussed the business friendly economic environment that he's created in Dallas, along with touting three of his key educational initiatives: the early reading, scholarship and internship programs.
And when the topic turned to health care, Leppert sounded, well, like someone crafting a stump speech meant for an audience beyond the city limits. Jump for an excerpt about health care's effect on the deficit that sounds decidedly Republican and downright senatorial.
My concern, and I know you've talked about it before, is at some point we start putting a burden from a debt position that we can't handle. Used to be you worried about your grandchildren. Well, I think more and more people now are worried about themselves.We've seen a debt ceiling that's gone up in the last 15, 16 months by 34 percent -- that's almost the good news, though. If we as a government had to show the liabilities that we as businesses need to do, that number's somewhere between 50 and 100 trillion dollars. That is a number that I think is difficult for anyone to comprehend. But when you take it and do it per household, you end up with between 5 and 700,000 dollars per household. That's something where, unfortunately, I think more and more people in our country are looking and saying, "You know, maybe the best times are behind us. Maybe we just are not going to see that generation in front of us that can do better." And I think that's just tragic.
The bulwark of our nation, as I said earlier, is this idea that we'll pass on to the next generation more opportunities, more assets, more possibilities. I think too many people in our country now are looking at especially in different areas and saying, "Gosh, maybe the best part of the story is behind." And that shouldn't be for a country that's as strong and has as many assets and as many opportunities as we do.
