Until yesterday, nobody ever accused Mitt Romney of being bold. The poster boy for caution, Romney leaped way outside the box for the most important decision he will make as a candidate.
By picking the youthful and brainy Paul Ryan as his running mate, Romney passed up far less controversial options. He went bold instead of safe.
Then again, he didn’t really have much choice. Romney was on course to lose the election to Barack Obama, perhaps by a landslide. Swing states were swinging against him as independents, despite unhappiness with Obama, were even more unhappy with Romney. And too many Republicans remain unenthusiastic about their party’s nominee.
The latest Fox News poll had Romney getting only 40 percent of the total vote, meaning he hasn’t even secured the normal GOP base. All voters favored Obama by 9 points and independents by 11.
This was a disaster in the making, and Romney and his team resembled deer caught in the headlights. As Obama leveled a barrage of attacks, some so fundamentally dishonest that many Dems recoiled, Romney played defense, and not very well.
Desperate times can shrink a man, or embolden him. Happily, the Ryan pick signals that Romney wants to reset the campaign by enlarging it to include an informed debate on the nation’s fundamental economic and budget mess. Sticking with his initial game plan, which assumed that emphasizing his biography as a job-creating businessman would beat Obama, wasn’t working.
Ryan, of course, is a gift to both sides. He showed why yesterday with his speech that touched the Tea Party erogenous zones by calling America an idea as well as a place and saying that liberty comes from God instead of government. He also flashed his calling card — the need to make tough decisions about Medicare, Medicaid and deficits.
Those topics are red meat for both camps, depending how the salami is sliced. Ryan wants to slice his plans as being essential to spur growth and opportunity, while Dems will slice it as punitive, claiming it will dismantle entitlements and tilt society toward the rich.
Senior citizens in Florida can expect a flood of ads designed to make them fear a life spent eating cat food in the dark before dying in the streets if Romney and Ryan are elected.
Demagoguery is easy, and Obama is a master at it. The hard truth is harder to sell, but it is the truth that America cannot continue this way. Washington now borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends, much of it from China. The tax hikes Obama wants would make a nominal difference, at the cost of jobs and growth.
Besides, his ideas mimic the policies sinking the welfare states of Europe. Having seen the future, you would think sensible Americans would be open to other options.
Many are open, but too many are afraid or unwilling to face the facts. Ryan’s plan isn’t perfect, yet it is a courageous and necessary starting point. But he can’t change the political dynamic alone. It falls to Romney, and that’s a problem.
Nearing the end of his second national race, he still doesn’t seem prepared for the life he has chosen. He reacts to attacks on his background and wealth as if he is surprised.
But rival Republicans Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry made the mud bombs Obama is throwing. If Romney was expecting a more honest campaign from the president, he’s guilty of political malpractice.
The mere fact that Obama is able to successfully distort Romney’s record to independent voters reflects Romney’s failure to define himself first — a violation of Politics 101.
Meanwhile, Obama knows what he is about. He acts without honor or scruples and does not suffer inhibitions about damaging the Oval Office. He will do what it takes to win.
Romney is a better man than that, but nice guys often do finish last. Paul Ryan can help, but if the nation is to be convinced to fire the first black president, Mitt Romney will have to do the convincing.
It’s Liu’s stop-&-tsk campaign
Caution: If you’re ever tempted to feel a shred of sympathy for John Liu, resist. The city comptroller deserves only contempt.
Bad enough that his fund-raising habits have the whiff of a criminal enterprise. The federal probe into his 2009 campaign continues.
The latest example of Liu’s mendacity is actually dangerous to the health of New Yorkers and the reputation of the NYPD. In fact, Liu’s inflammatory charges against stop-and-frisk could lead to deaths in other cities.
When the mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee, was considering adopting the strategy to combat rising crime, Liu wrote to advise against it. His Aug. 3 letter to Lee called the police tactic “nothing more than governmental racial profiling” and said it was a continuing “civil-rights violation” that should be abolished.
Last week, when Lee followed that advice, Liu pounced in triumph. He called Lee a “strong leader who listens to the diversity of voices” and urged Mayor Bloomberg to “take a page” from San Francisco.
Here’s another idea. Liu should ditch his police security and wander the streets of high-crime areas alone at night. I bet his experiences would give him such gratitude for the NYPD that he would stop smearing the men and women who risk their lives to protect ours.
By the way, 10 of those city officers have been shot this year. Liu didn’t mention that in his scurrilous letters.
Creating a vicious cycle
With continuing complaints about reckless bicycle riders in parks and on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the miles of empty bikes lanes on streets otherwise clogged with cars and trucks, New Yorkers are witness to something that is thankfully rare in city history.
Consider that City Hall’s chief responsibility is to solve problems. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. But it almost never creates new problems.
But Mayor Bloomberg and his bike czar have managed to do just that. By favoring anything that moves on two wheels, they created a new class of privileged citizens, and new problems for everyone else.
Lawless bike riders have injured hundreds of people, scared the bejesus out of countless others and cost taxpayers a fortune. Carving out the exclusive space has mutilated the streetscape and turned avenues into confusing choke points.
Brilliant, just brilliant. Nothing like it.
Hello, Nancy? It’s me, Susan B.
Now hear this: Nancy Pelosi hears voices.
The Dem leader told a female audience that the spirits of suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke to her at the White House, according to CNSNews.com.
“At last, we have a seat at the table,” she heard them say.
Told ya — she’s mad as a hatter.
Times’ Lolo blow
That unbelievably vicious New York Times article on Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones is easy to explain. Jones is a born-again Christian and a virgin — two things the Times fears.
Tim Tebow will get his turn in the Grey Lady’s crosshairs soon enough.