#RickPerry: I'm in charge here, not my campaign staff

Earlier this week, Rick Perry's campaign director claimed that, contra what he said in "Fed Up," the governor now thought Social Security was constitutional after all.

Well, either the flip-flopper is flopping again, or else he's getting tea partier pressure to be nuttier than Bachmann. Either one is possible, after all. Or, a mix of both motives.

Anyway, he now says he has never changed his position and still believes Social Security is unconstitutional.



It's clear that professionals on his staff are probably leery of "Fed Up" being a lead anchor on the campaign. Perry himself said when he wrote it that the book was proof that he wasn't running. Per the first link:

In an interview, (Communications Director Ray) Sullivan acknowledged that many passages in Mr. Perry’s “Fed Up!” could dog his presidential campaign. The book, Mr. Sullivan said, “is a look back, not a path forward.” It was written “as a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto,” Mr. Sullivan said.

That said, Sullivan isn't some RNC-type outsider. He's Perry's current chief of staff! Here's part of his professional profile:

Between 1998 and 2002, Sullivan worked in various roles the Perry operation, including as the governor’s deputy chief of staff, lieutenant governor’s communications director, and communications director for the 1998 and 2002 campaigns.

So, he can't be that oblivious of Rick Perry's mindset, can he? He's got more than a decade of inside- and outside-government professional connections with Tricky Ricky.

That leads to the next question ... how organized is Perry? Governing a one-party state where the governor doesn't have a lot of power doesn't require huge organizational discipline. We may see some shaking up and shaking out in days, weeks and months ahead.