Romney Defines His Profile

Mitt Romney, thus far a pale and undefined figure, has chosen Paul Ryan as his running mate, a politician with a clearly defined agenda: lower the debt, reduce government interference, lower taxes:. For Romney, that step is courageous but also highly risky.

Romney has had two difficult months of enduring suspicion that he cheated on his taxes and the accusation that as an investment expert he destroyed jobs in order to profit himself and his investors. Then there was the embarrassment of his foreign tour. These were heady times for his opponent Barack Obama and his Democratic supporters.

Put on the defensive, Romney gambled on a surprise coup. With his choice of Paul Ryan as running mate, he has changed the discourse for the coming days. Mainly, the choice gives new significance to the campaign for the White House, shifting the focus to policies rather than personal attacks, which can only do his campaign good.

Unlike other prominent Republicans, the clever Ryan represents a clear agenda: a radical reduction in the public debt, less government intervention and lower taxes. He has already outlined how he intends to achieve these goals in his “Ryan Plan,” which calls for, among other things, cuts in health care programs for the poor and elderly. When he first proposed it, that program was too radical even for many Republicans. But it pleased that part of the Republican Party that wants to reduce government to a bare minimum.

Up to now, Romney has mainly avoided making any clear commitments, earning him the title “turncoat” within the party. His claim was that as a businessman, he had the knowledge and skills necessary to turn the economy around. That and the hope that the election this November would be more about Obama’s limited success in his first four years proved to be inadequate.

Romney has now defined himself with his selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate. He elevates his campaign out of the doldrums and offers the American people a vision of how to get the nation back on its feet and what government’s future role should be. One doesn’t have to like the Ryan message, but at least he has one. And it returns the dangers of spiraling, uncontrolled debt to center stage in America. In that, Ryan represents a danger for Democrats. Added to that are Ryan’s personal qualities: smart, quick-witted and dynamic, just Obama was when he came on the scene in 2008. “Politico” magazine even likened him to a Republican Obama. Incumbent vice president Joe Biden won’t have an easy time debating him on television.

But Romney is taking a huge risk with his selection nonetheless. Whoever is clearly defined makes an inviting target. Obama will gleefully go after everything in the Ryan Plan, enumerating all its horrors in every campaign speech. He will depict Ryan as the destroyer of the middle class just as he has with Romney, the “anti-Robin Hood” who robs the poor to give to the rich. Thus, early reaction to Romney’s choice from the Democratic camp is eager joy in anticipating the coming battle.