Ryan Selection Isn’t A Sign Of Romney Weakness
August 11, 2012 12 Comments
The reaction Romney is getting for his selection of Paul Ryan is about what you would expect. CNN’s Candy Crowley declares the pick a “ticket death wish.” Andrea Mitchell declared Ryan “not a pick for suburban moms or women.” Because of course Mrs. Alan Greenspan, liberal journalist, speaks for suburban moms and women. On the right, the perpetually outraged and unhappy Michael Savage says the Ryan pick is “too little, too late.” In other words it didn’t matter who Romney picked, Savage was going to be outraged.
In watching the news networks today the theme seems to be that Romney is playing into Obama’s hand by no longer making the election a referendum on Obama. The media believes this is now an issues election, a worldview election. Apparently this is surprise to them, never mind that it was only the left and day dreaming conservatives who believed this was going to be a pure referendum election. This election was always going to be a battle of competing worldviews with Obama offering four more years of the same and Romney offering a different, conservative vision in stark contrast to Obama’s.
Make no mistake, the election is still a referendum on Obama. All re-election campaigns come down to a referendum on the incumbent. But It’s never as simple as do we want four more years of the incumbent or four years of some other guy. The challenger has to be able to make the case that not only is the incumbent no good but that he offers an alternative vision that the country can tolerate. In short, the challenger must be able to show that he is at least as capable as the incumbent and he must show the nation that he has a vision that while different from the incumbent is clear and tolerable to the public. If the challenger allows the race to be a pure referendum, he’ll lose. But if he shows the public that he is capable and has a clear vision, then the referendum can swing in his favor because the public can at least have someone to vote for rather than see their vote go to against someone.
Romney has taken the first step into giving the public reason to vote for him rather than simply against Obama. Paul Ryan is a fine pick, despite what the left is going to say about him. The Ryan selection shows that Romney is serious about fiscal sanity. With the economy and jobs being the top two issues in this race, Romney couldn’t have picked a better running mate. Paul Ryan, believe it or not, has decent favorability ratings (39-25 with 35 undecided). Over 50% of seniors support him, despite the fact that the left has unfairly attacking him over his plan to overhaul Medicare. (the media always ignores that Obama cut Medicare by $700 billion in Obamacare, seniors apparently took notice)
Romney is slowly but surely building his case for election. The Ryan pick sends his campaign in a very clear direction, it ought to play well with the general public. The election is still about Barack Obama, make no mistake about it. But Romney has to make a case for his own election, he cannot simply rest on the public’s discontent with Obama. Paul Ryan is the first step in making that case. His next will come on August 30th, when he gets a chance to introduce himself to the public at the GOP Convention. Don’t believe the media when they pretend that Romney is giving ground to Obama with the Ryan pick or that he’s been forced to change what this election is all about. This is still about Barack Obama and his failed Presidency. The Ryan pick is about giving the public a reason to make Romney the next President. Romney is moving in the right direction.
About Steven
I agree. Paul Ryan is a great choice for Mitt Romney. Of course, the left is going crazy over the choice. They are making all kinds of claims, no surprise there. The thing is, Ryan will be able to keep the focus on the economy and the dismal job Obama has been doing. He can easily articulate the differences between the two competing visions for our country. Many more pluses than negatives with Paul Ryan.
I think my favorite attack on Paul Ryan is that he doesn’t have much private sector experience. It’s sort of rich coming from people who support Obama and Biden who together have around six months of private sector experience.
I disagree. I think Ryan on the ticket is a home run for Obama. Once the public finds out about Ryan’s proposed budget and how everyone but the rich get screwed the excitement will end.
Romney wanted to make sure the extreme right wingers got out to vote for him. Even if they do he still loses the election because Ryan is going to be a huge negative for the few undecided voters that will now go to Obama. Shall we start talking about 2016?
The Ryan budget has been out for what, a year. His approval rating before the announcement was 39-25 with 35 undecided. That’s a pretty good starting point for a Congressman who is relatively obscure. Time will tell whether or not this will be a good pick. Like most VP selections, he’ll likely provide a temporary bump in the polls and then will become irrelevant. Over the last 30 years the only running mate to do anything long lasting for or against the top of the ticket is Sarah Palin. Paul Ryan isn’t Sarah Palin, he’ll make waves this week and he’ll be largely forgotten until the VP debate.
No one was paying attention to him before. Now they will. The sound bites are are going to be awful. “Ryan wants to end Social Security”. ” Ryan wants to give tax break to the wealthiest.” The Fox propaganda machine isn’t going to be able to save him.
It doesn’t matter who Romney selected as his running mate the Obama campaign and press were going to jump all over whoever was selected. The question is whether or not it really matters. Is the running mate really more important than the top of the ticket?
You don’t pick a VP that fires up the base unless you feel the need to fire up your base. I love, love, love the choice!! Romney/Rand…I mean Romney/Ryan 2012!!!
Let’s be honest about Paul Ryan, he isn’t a Tea Party darling. He voted for TARP and the auto bailout which pretty much negates someone from being a darling of the Tea Party. Romney didn’t pick Alan West, he picked a pretty solid conservative who excites the base in part because he isn’t a bore like Pawlenty and Portman and he isn’t a liberal like Condi. I don’t get the sense that Romney picked Ryan because he thought the base would get excited. I think he picked him because they can work together and because Ryan puts Iowa and Wisconsin in play and he could help in Ohio and Michigan.
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” Kung Fu Monkey
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Republican candidate for VP!!! Awesome!!!
The best you can come up with is that Paul Ryan recommends books to 14 year olds? Really?
lol. Nope best I can come up with is mocking that the fact that your VP candidate chose politics because of reading a novel articulating the philosophy of a sociopath.
“I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff. ”
“But the reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”
I’m not an Ayn Rand fan. My understanding is that Ryan has moved away from Rand over the years and embraced Papal theology as he’s gotten older. I would also be careful of attacking the mental state of Rand as we can easily get into a battle over philosopher’s mental states which would be fruitless.