I agree totally with Paul Burka’s assessment of Gov. Rick Perry’s effort to cover his own backside in the wake of the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/perrys-response-west#.UXgNuV0k5qo.twitter

Perry said that more state inspections of the plant wouldn’t have prevented the explosion that killed 14 people and injured dozens more. Burka asks a simple question: Just how does the governor know that?

It seems to me the governor is lapsing back into his less-government-is-better-government mantra, which is kind of the tea party theme in states across the nation.

Gov. Perry needs to start asking some difficult questions about this tragedy and stop relying on CYA platitudes that fail to get to the root of anything.

President and Mrs. Obama are going to visit the region Thursday to pay their respects for the victims of the blast. I’d give anything to be a fly on the wall when Gov. Perry and President Obama meet to discuss this matter. I’m wondering if he’ll tell the president to instruct federal agencies to butt out of efforts to repair the lives shattered by that horrific blast.