The AP is reporting that Mitt Romney will announce this morning at 9:00 that Paul Ryan is his choice for VP. I would love to see the AP be wrong ... for no other reason than that it would be sullied as a news source. But, assuming that it is right, what is my take on this first important Romney decision?
- It is a cerebral pick in that Paul Ryan is very smart ... he has the federal budget tattooed on the back of his hand. He knows where all the fiscal skeletons are and he can be instrumental in helping Romney fix our crushing federal debt burden. He has lectured the lecturers ... including that pompous one in the White House. And, in the upcoming debates, he will make mincemeat of that court clown, Biden.
- And it is a courageous pick on the part of Romney because Ryan has been twice vilified in the national media for his attempts to put forward budgets that would begin to repair things. Ryan has shown himself to be an easy target for demagoguery ... but then this has not fazed him. His obvious "damn the torpedoes" approach shows that he has a much larger "good" in mind than his own political stardom ... very unusual in these days of almost universal political sliminess. And Romney himself has shown himself willing to pick someone who, in important ways, is his better. This obviously is one of Romney's character traits that has served him well in his business career. It also augers well for the type of people that Romney would surround himself with if he is lucky enough to be elected.
I use the word "lucky" because I now believe that Romney's chances have been diminished by choosing Ryan. As some of you might remember, I would have preferred Marco Rubio mainly because of politics. (He was also Jeb Bush's preference and won the Fox News preference poll.) Rubio would have changed the dynamics of the race by appealing to many who look no further than the face and the name. I am loath to admit that the American electorate have too often proven themselves to be governed by their hearts and not their brains. Witness the elections of Carter and Obama.
For the Romney/Ryan ticket to prevail now, this same electorate needs to become much more cerebral. I can wish this to be the case, but my brain keeps whispering the opposite.
