Air Of Confidence - The Ryan Pick

Romney's pick of Paul Ryan as his VP, ending months of speculation, has me both nervous and delighted. Nervous, because I am by nature conservative about risk and would have gone with Portman or McDonnell from a pure electoral math perspective. It's probably a good thing I am not a candidate for office. I am delighted because this has the potential to be a game changer in a different way that Palin was a game changer (which I still believe was a great pick at the time.) First, this shows Romney's self confidence, which we need. The polls have made me nervous of late. Second, this will bait the Democrats into an all out class warfare and mediscare attack. But the people, even the elderly, are too smart for that too work. They know that the debt bomb is ticking. A debt ceiling limit might hit before the election, creating a crisis. Romney has positioned himself to be the man with foresight when that hits. I have discussed at length how McCain lost the 2008 election because he came across as erratic on the capital market crisis and ended up agreeing with Obama and Bush on the issue. There will be another crisis between now and November; Romney is positioning himself for the win when it happens.

Ryan is also the voice of the next generation. Brother blogger Dean has voiced his belief that a new battle has been joined in which his generation will have to fight for the future of America. Paul Ryan is a member of that generation and young enough to know that without true reform, the federal deficit will wreck his generation's ability to have any semblance of a retirement. Picking Ryan signals that Romney is ready to take on the serious issues of governing that will face this nation in the next four years.

John Fund has an excellent article on his "The Corner" blog at NRO, that discusses some of Ryan's excellent qualities. Leadership is key. One paragraph from Fund:

Third, Ryan’s ideas aren’t that novel or scary. The idea of “premium support” for Medicare, which would change the program’s one-size-fits-all policy to a private-insurance model with public options, was endorsed by a bipartisan commission appointed by Bill Clinton back in the 1990s. Late last year, Ryan announced a new version of his proposal with a new partner signing on: Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who first achieved political prominence as an advocate for seniors.

In the video of Ryan's speech after Romney's announcement, Rya hits it out of the park. At the 8:48 mark, he talks to the generational issue that Dean references when he says this:

President Obama and too many like him in Washington have refused to make difficult decisions because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation.

And there is this gem at 14:16. America is more than just a place, though.

America is an idea. It's the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from Nature and God, not from government. . . . We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes.

He states that this idea is under assault, by implication, from Obama. He later states:

We won't duck the tough issues, we will lead.

We won't blame others, we will take responsbility.

We won't replace our founding principles, we will reapply them.

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