Perry: Obama's jobs policies are 'dumb'

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said Tuesday that it is the administration's jobs policies, and not Rick Perry, that's dumb.

Perry, the current leader in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, decried the academics and intellectuals surrounding President Obama, saying the president would be better served by advisers with real-world experience and "wisdom."

"What's dumb is to oversee an economy that has lost that many millions of jobs," Perry said on conservative pundit Sean Hannity's radio show, in an apparent reference to an article this week that asked, "Is Rick Perry dumb?"

Policies from Obama that have driven the increased spending and the downgraded U.S. credit rating are what's dumb, Perry said.

He accused the president, who formerly lectured at the University of Chicago law school, of relying too much on the counsel of academics.

"They are intellectually very, very smart. But he does not have wise men and women around him," Perry said. "He has listened to all the academics around him, plenty of smart people, but nobody who has wisdom."

Perry said he had surged to front-runner status in the race for the GOP presidential nod because of his record as governor of Texas, which Perry said had enjoyed "fairly good exposure across the country" to this point.

Perry downplayed the notion that there was friction between him and members of the Bush family — "Absolutely no rift at all," he said — or, for that matter, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), Perry's leading opponent for the nomination.

Despite an increasing number of barbs being exchanged between the Romney and Perry campaigns, the Texas governor said he simply didn't know his competitor well enough personally.

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