If President Obama gives it some thought, Romney’s selection of Ryan as his running mate would be like a baseball set on a tee. First, his record — or lack of record — over a 13-year career in government would be the ball. During the Bush years, Ryan voted for and helped to pass Medicare Part D (prescription drug benefit) and was also one of the 20 Republicans who voted for TARP, and even pleaded for others in the GOP to follow suit.
During the Obama administration, many of the issues that most knowledgeable Americans who are so vehemently against the NDAA, The Patriot Act and funding for the Libyan War – are all actions Ryan voted for and helped get passed. During the Bush administration, he voted for the war in Iraq without it being paid for, although he is a supposed conservative fiscal hawk. These are actions that some in the tea party will not forget, or forgive and will likely isolate a majority of independent voters.
Ryan is the complete antithesis of Jack Kemp. It was Kemp who noted and informed conservative neocons that the war in Iraq was unnecessary, and would only serve to weaken America economically and be a major waste of our resources. Unlike Ryan, Kemp has been described by some as an “optimistic realist” who authored and passed legislation for years in the Congress. Ryan has not authored or passed any major legislation on his own.
Obama should attack Ryan’s logic, for Ryan blames major entitlement programs for our impending fiscal doom and doesn’t even include the cost of unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the problem.
If Obama wanted to play dirty, he could use the Reverend Wright card and hit below the belt for Ryan’s firm belief in the philosophical views of Ayn Rand. In her 1943 novel The Fountainhead, at the end of the book the main character blows up a home for mentally retarded orphans. If this is too low for Obama, then attack Ryan on his profiting on insider information to avoid the 2008 crash. According to an article published in the Richmond Newspaper, Ryan was part of a closed door meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and other congressional leaders on Sept. 18, 2008, that informed Congress of the impending economic collapse to get them to pass the TARP legislation. The point is that Obama should have no problem dealing with a Romney-Ryan ticket if he has half a brain. Ryan’s selection as Romney’s running mate is more of a liability in the bigger picture than an asset.
