OTTUMWA, Iowa - Riding high in the polls, Gov. Rick Perry rode into Iowa on Saturday with tough talk on President Obama, the economy and foreign policy and a declaration that Social Security is not only a Ponzi scheme but a "monstrous lie" for younger people.

"If you're for the status quo in America, I'm not your guy," Perry told an overflow crowd eager to see the presidential candidate at The Vine Coffeehouse, where people repeatedly sang God Bless America - once to try to encourage Perry to come in from shaking hands with people outside.

Asked by a woman in the crowd about Social Security being viewed as an entitlement program, Perry reiterated the suggestion in his anti-Washington book, Fed Up!, that the program amounts to a Ponzi scheme.

"It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie," Perry said. "It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them."

Later, in Des Moines, when a reporter asked about the suggestion that his campaign was backing off some positions in the staunch states-rights book, Perry said, "I haven't backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right."

National conversation

He told the Ottumwa crowd that for people who are drawing Social Security or near eligibility "like me," he wasn't proposing a change in the program. But he said there should be a national conversation about potential changes for others, including raising the age of eligibility and establishing a threshold based on a person's means.

"Does Warren Buffett need to get Social Security? Maybe not," he said.

More for you Politics Perry gives voters in Iowa an earful of tough talk

Presenting himself as the candidate who can put Americans back to work, Perry listed jobs lost in Iowa "since President Obama took over as president" and said one in eight Iowans is on food stamps.

"To be fair, President Obama inherited a bad economy, but he sure made it worse," contended Perry, who offered general suggestions for improvement such as limiting and simplifying taxes and the need to "quit spending money we don't have."

On foreign policy, Perry when asked about Israel cited a statement by Obama that Israel-Palestine borders should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps - a position Perry called "throwing Israel under the bus."

"I'm going to stand with Israel," he said.

Asked whether he'd consider preemptive strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, Perry said there are "a lot of different ways to deal with Iran," including diplomatically and financially, But he added, "I'm never going to take off the table our ability to have a military solution to a country like Iran."

Switched parties

Perry also was asked to explain his past support for Al Gore, in 1988 when Perry was a Democratic state House member.

"I never met a Republican 'til I was 25," said Perry, describing Texas' political past and his own, saying he "made both political parties happy" when he became a Republican in 1989.

In Des Moines, Perry also struck at Obama during a brief news conference. Asked whether he supported the potential Social Security eligibility changes he cited, Perry repeated his support for a "national conversation about how we can save the Social Security program that people expect to have as a retirement program.

"Anybody that is for the status quo ... I'll let the president speak for himself. If he wasn't for the status quo, we'd already be having this conversation."

He also called Obama "an absolute disaster as a president from the standpoint of our economy."

Perry's visit - which also included a meeting with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and corn growers - highlighted Perry's emphasis on Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus vote on the presidential race.

Atop the polls

Erstwhile frontrunner Mitt Romney has largely passed over Iowa in his emphasis on New Hampshire. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's win in the straw poll here was overshadowed by Perry's simultaneous jump into the race.

Perry has taken a lead in the polls, has a packed fund-raising schedule looming, plans visits to the other early-voting states over the long Labor Day weekend and soon after will face his first debate with other GOP candidates.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who came in second in the straw poll, took a bit of a dig at Perry's jobs message without naming him at a stop in Winterset.

"Presidents can't create jobs. Government can't create jobs. All they can do is create bureaucrats that interfere with your ability to create jobs," Paul said to applause from a crowd at the Northside Cafe. He also spoke at the Des Moines event before Perry.

Perry also has said that government doesn't create jobs, but at the same time, he's touting Texas' job numbers under his leadership as key proof that he has what it takes to put America back to work.

He said in Ottumwa that the country needs "someone who understands how to get America working again. And I'm it!"

pfikac@express-news.net