Paul Ryan Blew a Golden Opportunity

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As a self-described critic and observer of Congressman Paul Ryan, I can appreciate that he did not grandstand his class-war lemon "roadmap" on national TV. Of course if he had, he would not have only come across as the flim-flam man some folks believe that he is, but viewers would have assumed that republicans have a plan. I suspect party advisers knew how the public would react to it and nixed the idea.

In retrospect however, Ryan blew it. He had the rare chance few people get in politics to clear the air about his own reckless spending, job killing legislative positions and deficit ballooning tax policies. He chose not to. He could have explained to everyone in plain English how we got to this point. He could have said that although he doesn't agree with the President, he could have related how the economic stimulus worked but may come up short in some communities not because of poor intentions, but because the wounds inflicted over the past twelve years are much deeper than anyone thought. He did not. He could have suggested that members of both parties in congress would do well to drop the hyper-partisan vernacular and come together for the good of the government and the nation. He did not. He could have identified his own personal ideological hang-ups of liberalism vs conservatism, rich vs poor, left vs right, individualism vs. collectivism, democrats vs republicans, private vs public, trickle-up vs trickle-down, gays vs straight, up vs down and on and on. He did not. He could have said that he is making a personal commitment to lead a new way not built on party surrender or blind cooperation, but on a path of solving our budget problems without the conflict of those unnecessary obstacles. He did not. He could have said we’ll win or lose elections based on our wide party and ideological differences, but we will solve our problems as Americans. He did not.

As a nation, we need to cut costs in health care any which way we can. We need to produce a balanced budget sooner rather than later and protect our jobs, the golden years safety nets and the economically disadvantaged. This is a matter of life or death for many, it is a crisis - but instead Ryan has applied his ideological hang-ups as the core foundation to obstruct the policies of those he opposes. Ironically it is Ryan, the new budget director, who is working the numbers not with basic math and common sense but with an ideological calculator.

Paul Ryan had the golden opportunity to transcend the bitter and divisive electioneering of career politics and show America a new and different generation of fresh and bold leaders. He did not. He had the chance to prove me and many others wrong about his party politics and his person. Unfortunately, he did not.

Related: Paul Ryan is not who you think