The news and obits will obviously go on and on and on about his failed presidential bid in 1992. They will also push the ongoing lie about how Perot “gave” the election to Clinton by stealing away Bush’s votes. Bullshit. The people at 538 did a story proving how it’s a lie the Busheviks spread to explain why the clueless “Poppy” lost versus the reality, he was a mediocre guy who couldn’t be bothered with America’s domestic problems as he preferred to take victory laps for “winning” the Cold War.
The reality went more like this with Perot’s involvement in 1992. Out of a 100 Perot voters, those who would’ve voted for Bush the Elder v. Slick Willie was even (38 to 38) and the difference (24) wouldn’t have bothered. Besides, Clinton had been consistently in the lead since he cinched up the Democratic nomination by the Spring and Bush never gained a significant lead.
However, I agree with The Nation about Perot’s true legacy on the electorate. He was a major factor in the rise of Orange Foolius by stoking an early incarnation of the nationalism/Amerika Furst movement we have now. If you’re too young to remember, he coined the term of “the sucking sound of jobs going to Mexico” in objecting to NAFTA which both parties backed. Although I agree with protecting US jobs because both Americans/Canadians and Mexicans get screwed in the arrangement, Perot’s solution would still involve cuddling up to corporations in giving them whatever they wanted. Oddly my brother said he voted for him too. Me? I preferred Clinton at the time, he was the lesser evil as my Democratic favorites Bob Kerrey or Jerry Brown were eliminated by the time the Illinois Primary. I had a valid objection to Perot which I continue to hold which applied to Spurious George, Bishop Romney and Orange Foolius…Government IS NOT A BUSINESS so putting a businessman in charge is a shitty idea. I will say this in Perot’s defense. Unlike two of the past GOP presidents, Perot was a successful businessman who didn’t need his daddy’s help nor abundant assistance of our bankruptcy laws to get out of paying his bills. Versus the Mormon Thief of Salt Lake, Perot’s business dealings didn’t involve him getting rich by the same means Paul Cicero did in Goodfellas; Romney’s strategy is oddly legal while the Mafia’s is not yet they’re identical.
Perot built up his corporation EDS in the Sixties and was a force until he sold it off. He became rich the old fashioned way, by being a ruthless tyrant. This is how I will remember him too.
Unlike most Americans, I already knew who he was seven-eight years earlier when my family lived in Indiacrapolis circa 1984-85. My father originally moved us from Houston to the Suburb of No City to take a job with a data processing contractor company hired out to a GM factory in Kokomo, IN. I can never remembered what they made. The job lasted a mere 10 months courtesy of Perot. What had occurred during the Summer-Fall of 1984 (I think) was Perot acquiring a significant share of GM, enough to have his EDS take over GM’s IT/CS functions. Dad’s employer wasn’t going to be terminated necessarily, EDS was going to poach him and his co-workers instead. Given the terms and conditions the petty dictator Perot offered, I wouldn’t call it employment, it was more of indentured servitude. The only example of this I recall involved training. If my father left for another employer within 10 years of signing with EDS, he would be contractually obligated to reimburse them. Perot being a Texan/Southerner, he conveniently forgot that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves along with the 13th Amendment. Dad found this unacceptable and chose to take the equally worse option, a job with the Department of Energy in Beulah, North Dakota. Ergo, Perot had an indirect role in my personal misery as a teenager in the Eighties. I’ve recovered but I would never piss on him if he were on fire.
So to the SCLM, I beg you, please, please, please, don’t lionize this asshole. The Nation‘s immediate take on him is on the money. He is a contributor in the mess we’re in today, not some eccentric guy who had the most successful third-party run in decades and provided fodder for SNL.