By Fraser P. Seitel
Good for Mitt Romney.
Now we’ve got a game!
Don’t believe all the liberal claptrap about “the next Sarah Palin”...”the second coming of Jack Kemp” … or “another (God help us!) Dan Quayle.”
Paul Ryan is the real deal and certainly no light weight.
You’ll see soon enough that in many ways, he is the “anti-Palin.”
Public relations wise, Ryan’s selection was the absolute best that Romney could have made. Here’s why:
As opposed to most members of Congress who know as much as their staffs shove under their nose at hearing time, Paul Ryan actually knows what he’s talking about.
He’s smart. He does his homework. He studies. And he pays attention to what’s going on around him.
And there is nobody on the planet who knows the U.S. budget – and what ails it – more than Paul Ryan.
Ryan is also young enough and jaded enough to realize why most Americans have had it with your typical shallow and pandering politicians. (Are ya’ listenin’ Joe Biden?)
He understands that as partisan as things have become, people will still respect a knowledgeable, straight-shooting representative, who tells the truth and says what he believes.
They may not agree with him, but they’ll respect him.
And right now – with a 12% approval rating – there ain’t too many in Congress who people respect.
Because he’s smart and articulate and understated, Ryan is one of Washington’s best interviews.
Ryan as opposed to the Schumers or Levins or McConnells or Shelbys is no blowhard. He talks straight, uses simple language and makes sense. In other words, as opposed to the aforementioned gasbags, Ryan talks to make points not to “posture.”
He is also likable in a way that Chris Christie is not. He’s neither confrontational nor high-falutin’. He comes across as real, earnest and wanting to get things accomplished.
As a consequence, on television, he exudes “confidence” as Sarah Palin exuded “deer in the headlights.” He is as at home on CNBC, talking finance; as he is on Fox News, defending conservatism, as he is on MSNBC, debating liberalism.
He is afraid of no reporter – because he realizes he knows more than they do and has nothing to be defensive about. And he is one of the few in Washington with the guts to seek out a reporter who disagrees with him and engage in conversation. (See New York Times’ former editor and unabashed liberal Bill Keller’s column on Aug. 13.).
Oh yes, Ryan will emulsify hapless Joe Biden in a debate.
Remember Gray Davis, the bumbling California governor whose personality matched his name – “gray?”
Well, that’s been Romney so far – personality-less, gutless, wishy-washy.
But not any more.
Ryan’s selection was a bolt from the blue.
Romney showed he had the guts to bypass the bland Pawlenty and blander Portman, the promising but wet-behind-los-orejos Rubio and the bombastic Christie.
Ryan is young, smart, energetic, even Obama-like in terms of hope and change and surprise.
It was an unexpected and inspired choice.
And it showed that Romney had the intestinal fortitude to make a tough decision that wasn’t necessarily “safe” but was unequivocally “best.”
- He forces a national decision.
Best of all – or maybe, worst of all – the choice of Ryan really does allow the nation to choose which side it wants to be on.
John McCain was a tired candidate, who stood for little that anyone could discern as different from his rival. Palin was a “hail Mary” choice that re-enthused the base but lost the election.
This time around, no such confusion.
In this one, voting Democrat means depending on the government to assist most citizens as they wend their way through life; voting Republican means depending on one’s own hard work and ingenuity and even luck to forge one’s lot in life, Leleina. As Ryan put it Saturday, “America guarantees opportunity; it doesn’t guarantee outcomes.”
A lot of Americans won’t like that philosophy and won’t vote for it. And maybe, in the final analysis, those dissenters will prove to be the majority of the electorate.
But at least with the selection of Ryan, we’re gonna find out, once and for all. |