Elli Ganchrow writes:
A few thoughts about Romney's selection of Paul Ryan to be his running mate. Firstly, I am thrilled with the pick. Ryan is the brightest star in the Republican Party and is its intellectual leader. He is a master on the budget and will destroy any Democrat who tries to debate on the issues. It will be fun to watch Joe Biden try to keep up with Ryan in their debate. (Charles Krauthammer reminded his viewers that Ryan made mince meat of the President during a White House meeting with Congressional leaders early in the President's term.) Ryan will bring out big crowds (as was evident today) and should help with fund raising). It does make you wonder what position the party would be in if Ryan was the nominee for President and not Vice President. However, I am still waiting to see if this signifies that the Romney team is ready to go for the win. This was a bold pick and is a good sign but now they have to go out and run a meaningful campaign that is on message. Hopefully the next two and a half monthes will be about reforming medicare and social security, cutting spending, cutting taxes, getting the economy moving and jobs. They must explain the major philosophical differences between the parties and allow people to make an intelligent choice based off what they hear. Romney cannot allow the remaining time to be about being on defense or about what year he left Bain Capital or where his tax returns are.
Two final points: One, I was perplexed by the timing of the VP announcement. They leaked it to the press on Friday night and formerly introduced him in a lavish ceremony in front of a battleship on Saturday morning at 9:45am Eastern time. Who did they would be tuning in to watch Ryan on Saturday morning- those watching Saturday morning cartoons or insomniacs on the West coast? They couldn't wait for Monday after the Olympics? Or any other week day to attract a big TV audience? Romney's introduction speech wasn't very good and he ended it by introducing Ryan as "the next President of the United States." Overall, not one of the campaign's better moments. Lets hope for some good moments in the coming monthes. Second, no matter what happens, win or lose, this puts Ryan in the driver's seat as the next leader of the Republican and our next nominee in either 2016 or 2020. That will hopefully mean less attention to our previous VP nominee, Sarah Palin, which can only be a positive thing.
