Suddenly, it is Paul Ryan season in Washington, D.C. The six-term Wisconsin congressmen is still young, but until now mainly has been a wonks' favorite rather than a media darling--one of the few folks on the Hill who knows big subjects in depth. He is, for example, the House's leading minority spokesman on the budget. That kind of subject usually makes people yawn.
But now, in a matter of days, Congressman Ryan is all over the news, even attracting the attention of the President. George Will is hailing him as a future national leader. Russ Douthat touts him. Ezra Klein, Washington Post wonk-on-the-left, admires his seriousness and originality. The Wall Street Journal editorial page has gone from curious to enthralled.
Rep. Ryan's "A Roadmap for America's Future " site online has become a popular resource for conservative editorial writers, but undoubtedly it also is a magnet for opposition researchers who know (correctly) that anyone as comprehensive, honest and spontaneous as Ryan is going to say things somewhere, sometime that can be used against him. Ryan worries that they will try to defeat him for re-election, but the bigger danger is that they will try to strangle any national ambitions.
Yet, perhaps because he has thought creatively about the issues everyone is worrying over--the dangerous deficit and debt and how they may ruin our economy--and because he has positive answers, Ryan is gaining respect.
Notice that he puts health care costs at the center of our troubles, just as the President does. The difference is that Ryan sees the path out as patient centered, rather than government-centered.
Ryan is not the only smart voice in Congress that needs to be heard more often these days. In fact, he is part of a team of Members, such as Virginia's Eric Cantor, that remind one of Newt Gringrich's "Opportunity Society" group in the 1980s--the ones that brought the GOP to power in 1994. But, while there are others who should be heard from, too, let's start with Ryan. Give him some air, some time where he is not interrupted by interviewers who want to put out their own thoughts, and let him also debate with worthy opponents, such as Sen. Ron Wyden (on health care). America needs the discussion--a teach-in, as it were--of ways to get out of our current financial mess. The apparent death of Obamacare and the negative reaction to the President's budget provides the opportunity for thinking through something different.
