Ryan Meets Reality

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In the debate, Biden worked to display Ryan as the callow youth and himself as the more experienced senior statesman. And Ryan became caught in the contradictions of the Republican ticket: the moderate, then severely-conservative, and now once again sort-of-moderate Romney; and the radical Ryan, who had wanted to turn Medicare into a voucher program and slash domestic programs while cutting taxes on the wealthy—but was being reined in. Earlier, Ryan had been required by House Republican leaders to tone down his proposals in order to get his budget through the House, and then was forced to modulate further after he was selected to be Romney’s running mate. He even renounced Ayn Rand.

Biden, drawing on his prosecutorial skills (he had once practiced law), made it clear that the Republicans have no workable solution for speeding up the economy: what Romney proposes, he said, is “mathematically impossible.” Rubbing it in, Biden said, “This is amazing.” More than once Ryan, the self-produced “ideas politician,” talked talking points or made ideological statements rather than substantive proposals, as ideas politicians are wont to do. They seem to actually think that way, that the hard work of translating ideas into legislation isn’t necessary.

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In their debate one got the impression of one vice-presidential candidate speaking from knowledge and experience and the other from index cards. This is what an “ideas meteorite” such as Ryan relies on: numbers and index cards rather than knowledge, real-life experience, discernment, judgment. Having shot up quickly through the ranks of power in Washington, ideas men like Ryan tend to miss the texture and complexities of life that ground others in reality. And thus they can come off as soulless, as Ryan, with his detached proposals, did in the debate. Joe Biden is very grounded in reality.

Determined to not let Ryan get away with anything—to dismiss many of his points—Biden, not a subtle man, did patronize him a bit and smiled often, to suggest that Ryan wasn’t to be taken seriously. Biden did overdo this somewhat, and the Republicans complained almost unanimously after the debate that their candidate was treated rudely—the tender-hearted conservative Republicans of course abhor rudeness. But their making a big thing about Biden’s frequent smiling, their criticisms even of the moderator (a familiar effort at misdirection), were clear signs of how they thought the event had gone.

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/oct/12/ryan-meets-reality/