Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, began tearing into President Barack Obama’s “record of failure.” Ryan has accepted the role as Romney’s chief attack dog. Ryan said on Saturday
“No one disputes President Obama inherited a bad situation and in his first two years, with his party in complete control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda. But that didn’t make things better.”
Romney chose 42-year-old Ryan, a seven-term congressman, from a short list that included Ohio Sen. Portman, former Gov. Pawlenty , Sen. Marco Rubio among others.
Ryan is the architect of a conservative and controversial long-term budget plan to remake Medicare and cut trillions in federal spending. His choice as VP thrusts these budget plans into the spotlight of the presidential election. Instead of swapping tired charges of Romney not releasing tax returns or Obama his college transcripts. Now at last the campaign can focus on the issues.
The Democrats will say that Ryan is the creator of a radical Republican House budget proposal and the plan will end Medicare as we know it. Actually that may be so but it also proves that Paul Ryan won’t duck tough issues. Ryan has blamed Obama for the nation’s unemployment rate that has exceeded 8 percent for more than three years, the longest run since the Great Depression. “Higher unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt is a not a new normal. It is a result of misguided policies,” Ryan said.
Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee and author of conservative and tea party influenced Republican majority.
The Ryan plan envisions transforming Medicare into a program in which future seniors would receive government vouchers that they could use to purchase health insurance. Under the current program, the government directly pays doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. By allowing insurance companies to administer the coverage they can better prevent the program from waste and fraud. The result would be a cut in projected spending for Medicaid, which provides health care for the poor, as well as food stamps and other social programs.
Ryan’s budget plan died in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
“Our rights come from nature and from God, not government,” Ryan said. “That’s who we are. We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes.” Paul Ryan is a breath of fresh air as he will stand by his convictions and show us a better way. Mitt Romney is courageous in choosing Ryan as his running mate. Now maybe we can focus on choosing which path forward Americans will choose instead of petty character assassination.
