Last week was Paul Ryan's first as a vice presidential candidate and he seems to have made a good impression. He surely made a good impression on Mitt Romney and I've read that there was an evident chemistry between the two when they appeared together. I liked Ryan's casual-Friday dress; it's a look that everyone in the modern workplace is familiar with and it contrasted well with the top-of-the-ticket's stiff formality, both in dress and manner. "You know this guy" everything about Ryan seemed to say, even if we don't, and with Romney everything about him seems to say "You don't know this guy." As the American people get to know Ryan we will learn what he stands for and what his record is. Those I don't think will make such a good impression.
The actual Vice President, Joe Biden, didn't make such a good impression last week. Biden was campaigning in Virginia and concluded his remarks by saying, "With you--and I mean this--with you, we can win North Carolina again." Ah jeez. There does not seem to be good chemistry between President Obama and the Vice President. Obama has a "cool" demeanor, Biden a "hot" one and when Biden gets wound up he sometimes commits gaffes like that. Even when he's not wound up Biden sometimes talks without thinking. Earlier this year he preempted the President's announcement of support for gay marriage, to his own profound embarrassment and the fury of the President's staff. "The Vice President got a little out over his skis on that one" was Obama's only "cool" public reaction. Biden is like Obama's crazy uncle: family, but he'd just as soon keep him locked up in his room. Biden's in Michigan this coming week.
Paul Ryan is the architect of the Republican budget proposals. One of those is to replace Medicare, government funded, pay-for-service, with government payments to consumers to purchase private health coverage. Medicare is very popular with voters, who trust Democrats more than Republicans on this issue, and words like "privatize" and "vouchers" are anathema. Ryan's plan would cut $700 million from Medicare and increase consumer's out-of-pocket costs by over $6000.* From every angle therefore this should be a dream issue for Obama-Biden, one on which they didn't think Romney-Ryan would engage, and so they got caught by surprise last week when Romney-Ryan did just that and attacked Obamacare for cutting $700 million to boot. Ryan has proved, albeit in just one week, to be an effective campaigner. I expect an up-tick in the new polls for Romney-Ryan. Will voters like the Republican ticket on the issues come November 6? I don't think so (but I could be wrong).
*http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/17/barack-obama/barack-obama-ad-says-paul-ryans-medicare-plan-coul/, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/15/stephanie-cutter/ryans-plan-includes-700-billion-medicare-cuts-says/
