In my view, last night was the first time in a while that the official Republican response to the State of the Union matched up well against a Democratic president’s speech. Paul Ryan was respectful, measured but appropriately critical and fact-filled. And somehow he managed to strike a tone that was mildly less partisan than the unofficial Tea Party response delivered by Michelle Bachmann. Ryan’s response also underscored the fact that Obama’s newfound spending restraint is mostly content-free.
