Obama v. Straw Man

President Obama has a history of political success based upon picking his own opponent.  For example, his first election victory came when he had all of his opponents for the Illinois Senate disqualified so that he could run unopposed.  Similarly, in 2008, he constantly chose to run against the unpopular George Bush instead of his actual opponent, John McCain.  Obama is a very savvy politician.

Well, he's at it again.  Now that Mitt Romney has chosen Paul Ryan as his running mate, the Obama campaign is on the attack.  But, consistent with their past successful strategies, they're not attacking the actual Paul Ryan and his current positions -- they're attacking an opponent more to their liking. 

Ryan has not been a careful politician, at least not with regard to the budget.  He makes bold proposals, and he improves those proposals based upon criticisms and suggestions of others.  So this approach has provided the Obama campaign an opportunity -- they are vigorously opposing earlier versions of Ryan's proposals, versions that nobody is advocating at the moment.  If you can't beat the opponent in front of you, run against a straw man! 

When we hear Wasserman Schultz, Axelrod, and the other Obama mouthpieces (along with their surrogates in the msm) characterize Ryan's positions on the budget, the smart voter won't lap up the koolaid they're peddling.  If you want to know what's in Ryan's proposed budget, it's in black and white.  All you have to do is look it up.  I'll even make it easy for you:  http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/keyfactssummary.pdf. 

We must not blindly take the word of either campaign.  We have the internet now.  We can learn the facts for ourselves.  And with the way the msm does their "job," we'll have to.  That's ok, we're better off checking things out for ourselves anyway.

Super Romney

I can't think of anything that Romney could have done to improve my view of him more than the selection of Paul Ryan as a running mate.  Everybody, including President Obama, says over and over that our entitlement programs are headed for almost imminent disaster, and they'll take the budget and the economy down with them.  Politicians have been saying that for a long time, and the closer we get to the looming disaster, the more people keep talking about it.  But few have been willing to try to do anything about it, and you can understand why. 

Since Paul Ryan began the process of actually proposing and developing (to his credit, his proposal has been an evolution) solutions, the political left and their accomplices in the msm have done everything they can to make Ryan a political pariah.  Witness the fact that even though Ryan's proposal has changed over the years in response to suggestions, the msm keeps letting the Obama campaign get away with attacking an earlier iteration of the proposal that isn't even on the table anymore.  The left's efforts against Ryan have had at least this much effect -- Ryan and entitlement reform now are permanently linked in the public psyche. 

Romney knew this.  But by picking Ryan, Romney has not only touched the third rail of entitlement reform, he's giving it a big bear hug.  Too wimpy to be president?  Take that!  Seriously, the Ryan pick is like the soldier who turns into enemy fire, guns blazing.  It's like the New York first responders on 911 running into the WTC.  You think I overstate Romney's courage?  Maybe.  But this space is not big enough to contain the names of the politicians in both parties who have run from entitlement reform over the last few election cycles.  If Romney will follow through with real and lasting entitlement reform, he could end up right up there with Ronald Reagan in my book.  And if he dies trying?  Then we have a big problem, because who is the politician who will ever again dare to tell us the truth if we mow down Romney for this pick?