For those of us who think Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is a rock star, Daniel Henninger’s piece on “The Ryan Factor” this morning is a must-read. Henninger speculates on what is behind the Draft Ryan movement:
I am beginning to think that the Draft Ryan movement is about something other than Paul Ryan. And that something is disagreement with the simple notion that all that matters is finding a hero who can defeat Barack Obama. Voters sense this election is wading into deeper waters than that….
I think the American electorate understands that next year’s choice of a president is not about anything so unfocused as “the future of our country.” The dissatisfaction with the GOP candidates reflects the awareness that the 2012 election isn’t about 50 states. It’s about the financial structure of one place-the nation’s capital….
What Republicans and ideologically independent voters want is a GOP candidate willing-and more importantly, able-to engage Barack Obama frontally and in detail over the future of the spending commitments embedded in the events of the past three years and the past 70 years. Mr. Obama wants spending to rise to 25% of GDP to support those commitments for the next 70 years. Until we settle this and the taxes it implies, everything else a candidate may propose, such as devolving power away from Washington, is beside the point because it won’t be possible….
Don’t read this as a Ryan endorsement. Read it as an endorsement of the discontented voters who understand they need a candidate with the skill set to take on Barack Obama with more than sophisticated blather. If that’s the battleground, the president wins