[`(get_)the_excerpt()`](http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/the_excerpt) strips HTML tags - that's why you don't have HTML tags. ;)

Just use `the_content()` instead of `the_excerpt()` if you want to show the full content.

    $recent = new WP_Query("page_id=2");
    while ($recent->have_posts()) : $recent->the_post();
        echo '<a href="'.get_the_permalink().'" rel="bookmark">Permalink</a>';
        the_content();
    endwhile;
    wp_reset_postdata();

As for the _best way_ of outputting post data, you should have a look at [this](http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags#Post_tags).