Mitt Romney’s choice of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul
Ryan as his running mate demonstrates a boldness and strength in
Romney that few other actions could have proved. Ryan is the best
choice logically, politically, and substantively and, in Ryan, Mr.
Romney has chosen a running mate that is his peer, not just a
caboose on a long, heavy campaign train.
As I wrote
back in April, Ryan is a fact-driven choice that will help Romney
among all the key groups — conservatives, moderates, and
independents alike — who can now be motivated enough to turn out
and vote.
The first fact is that Ryan is Romney’s peer: a man of strong
character and political achievements who could be a powerful part
of a Romney administration. As the Almanac of American
Politics says of Ryan, he is “regarded as an intellectual
leader in the GOP for his unrivaled influence on fiscal matters.”
That intellectual horsepower is one of the first things that come
up whenever you talk to the people who know Ryan best, the House
members who have worked with him for years.
One of them is Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), one of the strong
conservatives who has been fighting the good fight against Obama’s
spending spree. (Pence is running for governor of Indiana this
year.) Shortly after Romney and Ryan appeared on Saturday
announcing Ryan’s selection, Pence told me, “I have known and
worked with Paul Ryan for the past twelve years and count him as a
personal friend. Paul has the character, intellect and optimistic
vision our next president will need at his side to turn this
economy around and put Hoosiers back to work. Paul Ryan also
possesses an understanding of the federal budget that our next
administration will need to restore fiscal solvency and save future
generations from massive deficits and debt.”
Ryan’s intellect is matched by his debating and speaking skills.
In February 2010, at Obama’s “summit meeting” on Obamacare, Ryan —
politely and firmly — schooled the president on the devastating
impact Obamacare will have on the budget, on Medicare, and on our
economy. After Joe Biden dissed the Republicans by saying they
weren’t qualified to speak for the American people, Ryan told
Obama: “…I respectfully disagree with the vice president about what
the American people are or are not saying or whether we’re
qualified to speak on their behalf. So we are all representatives
of the American people. We all do town hall meetings. We all talk
to our constituents. And I’ve got to tell you, the American people
are engaged. And if you think they want a government takeover of
health care, I would respectfully submit you’re not listening to
them.” (It’s worth watching the whole six-minute video you’ll find
here.)
Ryan is the logical and substantive choice because Obama and
congressional Dems have made it clear — by pre-emptively
demonizing Ryan’s budget “Roadmap” — that they will make the
roadmap a key issue this year. They want to continue demonizing it,
making false accusations such as that it won’t cut the deficit and
will destroy Medicare. Who better to not only defend it, but to
take the fight to Obama and Biden than the man who wrote the Ryan
Roadmap?
The latest version of the Ryan plan — which has twice passed
the House by large margins — was scored in 2010 by the
Congressional Budget Office. On January 27, 2010 CBO reported:
• Federal government debt and spending — on Obama’s course —
will reach 223% of the Gross Domestic Product by 2040. Ryan’s plan
reduces that to 99%. (That was before Obamacare, which adds —
according to the Senate Budget Committee Republicans — about $17
trillion in unfunded debt over the next 75 years.)
• The Ryan plan provides that Americans over 65 by 2020 will
receive current and rising Medicare benefits for life. Those who
reach 65 after 2020 will be given vouchers to purchase private
health insurance, resulting in enormous savings in federal
spending. CBO says, “Under [Ryan’s] proposal, national health
expenditures would almost certainly be lower than they would under
[Obama’s vague plan.]”
• “The lower budget deficits under [Ryan’s] proposal would
result in much less federal debt than under the alternative [Obama]
fiscal scenario and thereby a much more favorable economic
outlook.”
The 42-year old Ryan was Romney’s best choice for those reasons
alone. But there are other things about him that add to what the
media likes to call “electability.” He’s no radical, has a great
family (the kids have the cuteometer pegged on “high”), and is
solid on conservative social principles. Moreover, he’s a hunter
and outdoorsman, not a hunter-poseur like Vichy John Kerry.
Paul Ryan is a warm, charming guy. He can be as intense as his
work on the federal budget demands, but talking to him privately,
as I’ve done in his House office, is like listening to Dean Martin
singing: you relax without realizing it. As he proved on Saturday
accepting Romney’s selection of him, Ryan is a superb speaker who
will be good on the stump and in the vice-presidential debate.
(Saturday was a bad day for Joe Biden. The Ryan-Biden debate will
be memorable and probably hilarious, given Joe’s gaffe-prone
speech.)
On Saturday, accepting Romney’s choice, Ryan gave a speech that
included a lot of principles that he spoke of in terms that should
become campaign themes for the Republican ticket. For example, Ryan
said: “No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult
situation. And, in his first two years, with his party in complete
control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda.
But that didn’t make things better. In fact, we find ourselves in a
nation facing debt, doubt and despair.” That, he said, is what many
people want to accept as the “new normal” which he rejected.
Ryan spoke repeatedly about his father, who died at an early
age. His father told him that people are either a part of the
problem or a part of the solution, and Ryan said Obama is part of
the problem. He talked about how politicians of both parties delay
making tough choices, saying, “We might have been able to get away
with that before, but not now. We’re in a different, and dangerous,
moment. We’re running out of time — and we can’t afford four more
years of this.” He promised that he and Romney would “turn this
around.” Turning America around will be a tough job, but Romney and
Ryan are capable of doing it.
Ryan’s relative youth is another strength. It’s not hard to
imagine him running to succeed Romney in 2020, which bodes well for
a revival of Republican principles and fortunes.
It’s time for all Republicans and conservatives to bury the
hatchet. We can quibble privately about this and that, and bemoan
the fact that Ronald Reagan isn’t with us. But between now and
November 7 — the day after the election — we need to do
everything in our power to turn America around. That means electing
the Romney-Ryan ticket.
