Quick Paul Ryan Take

Over the weekend, I've been asked to provide my reaction to Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan for his running mate.  Well, I just have a couple thoughts.

First, for a man who is campaigning as an outside the Beltway candidate, I find it curious that Governor Romney selects a man with no private sector experience to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.  Rep. Ryan has as much private sector experience as the President, which appears to contradict a central criticism many have of the President of having no private sector experience.  

As one who has both educational credentials (Masters of Public Policy) and professional experience (6 years consulting government agencies) as a policy wonk,  I am intrigued that Rep. Ryan is on the ticket since he is perhaps the most noted policy wonk in the Beltway.  However, he is not well known outside the Beltway.  So name ID will be an issue outside the GOP base.  Additionally, the policies he has crafted, mainly through his work as Chairman of the House Budget Committee, are so idiosyncratic in the concepts, not the details, that they can be easily blurred by his opponents.  Currently, Rep. Ryan's proposal to offer a premium support program in Medicare for those under 55 is easily obfuscated by his opponents as fundamentally destroying the program for seniors by the idea that Medicare will change.  I'll be interested how the Romney/Ryan ticket will combat that charge.  As a reader of this blog says who has experience in these matters, Romney appears to be "leading with his chin" on this one.

Third, while many conservatives are excited by this pick because they want a debate on the need for fiscal discipline,  I find it hard to believe that Rep. Ryan is best spokesman's on the issue based on his past experience as a politician.  Recall in this time where Ryan proposed a budget that hopes to bring the budget into balance in 2050 through program re-design and spending cuts that this is the same man who voted for bailouts of financial firms, auto companies as well as expanding Medicare itself.  At a church I attend in town we have a song for that… Hippocritter..

So in the end, while I am intrigued by Romney's pick and think it will excite the base to a large extent, I would rather have had Romney choose a Governor such as a Bobby Jindal (my preference) or Bob McDonnell who has executive experience outside of Washington than an inside Washington policy wonk with little name recognition outside the political junkie crowd.  In short, I find myself in this position when thinking about Mitt's decision.