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Ryan Calls for a U.S. Turnaround, Led by Romney Rousing G.O.P., Ryan Faults ‘Missing’ Leadership
(about 2 hours later)
TAMPA, Fla. — Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, whose budget plans have come to define conservative opposition to President Obama’s governing philosophy, accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday as his party embraced the gamble that the small-government principles he represents have more political payoff than peril.TAMPA, Fla. — Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, whose budget plans have come to define conservative opposition to President Obama’s governing philosophy, accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday as his party embraced the gamble that the small-government principles he represents have more political payoff than peril.
Before an audience of conservative party faithful gathered here for the Republican convention, Mr. Ryan, 42, sought to turn his relative youth to his advantage, saying he would stand with Mitt Romney in embarking on a generational struggle to protect the very social program — Medicare — that Democrats accuse him of trying to dismantle. Before an audience of party faithful that he brought to life with his address, Mr. Ryan, 42, sought to turn his relative youth to his advantage, saying he would stand with Mitt Romney in embarking on a generational struggle to protect the very social program — Medicare — that Democrats accuse him of trying to dismantle.
“I accept the calling of my generation to give our children the America that was given to us,” Mr. Ryan said. “And I know that we are ready.” “Ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate. We want this debate. We will win this debate,” Mr. Ryan said to thunderous applause from the Republican National Convention, making it clear that he and Mr. Romney have no intention of backing off in the face of withering Democratic attacks and unease among some Republican Congressional candidates fearful of a backlash from voters.
Fully embracing the vice-presidential nominee’s traditional role of leading the charge against the other party, he added, “After four years of getting the runaround, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Governor Romney.” The crowd came to hear an indictment of Mr. Obama, and as he gave the highest-profile speech of his career, Mr. Ryan delivered one, fully adopting the vice-presidential nominee’s traditional role of leading the charge against the other party. Welcomed to sustained applause of a full minute, he delivered his address with a mix of searing takedowns of Mr. Obama (“a ship trying to sail on yesterday’s wind”), a gentle joke about the songs Mr. Romney favors (“which I’ve heard on the campaign bus and on many hotel elevators”) and appeals to undecided voters to leave behind whatever lingering hopes they had that Mr. Obama could bring the economy back to full strength.
The excited anticipation for Mr. Ryan’s appearance here Wednesday was a resounding affirmation of his popularity with conservatives who have at times shown less enthusiasm for Mr. Romney. “Ladies and gentlemen, these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House,” Mr. Ryan said, drawing a roar of approval as he went on. “What’s missing is leadership in the White House.”
And Mr. Romney’s campaign hoped Mr. Ryan would help knit together a party whose primary-season tensions have bubbled to the surface at times during the convention. Mr. Ryan even at one point appeared to flirt with charges of socialism as he recounted his own work history, starting with his days as a waiter. “That’s the American dream,” he said. “That’s freedom, and I’ll take it any day over the supervision and sanctimony of the central planners.”
The session opened with a video tribute to Representative Ron Paul and included an appearance by his son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, drawing boisterous cheers from some of the very delegates who had booed elements of the proceedings on Tuesday over what they viewed as slights to the elder Mr. Paul here and efforts by party leaders to squash the influence of grass-roots activists. (Rand Paul, unlike his father, enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Romney here.) If his vigorous support for shrinking the size and role of government has left the party exposed to withering attacks from Mr. Obama and the Democrats, it did not seem to cause concern. Rather, Mr. Ryan ran headlong into the certain fire he would draw.
Former President George W. Bush, whose spending policies are anathema to many of the ardent supporters of Mr. Ryan’s, gave an emotional filmed testimonial to both his father — with whom he appeared from the family vacation town of Kennebunkport, Me. — and Mr. Romney. “There is no question in my mind, Mitt Romney will be a great president,” he said. Mr. Ryan made it clear that he would portray the Romney-Ryan ticket as protecting Medicare, not “raiding it,” as he said Democrats would, saying his own mother’s reliance on the program should be proof of his commitment to it.
It ran on a day when cable news was blanketed with too-familiar images of harried residents evacuating parts of storm-ravaged Louisiana, reminders of Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans seven years ago to the day and left Mr. Bush reeling under accusations of an inadequate federal response. “A Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare, for my mom’s generation, for my generation, and for my kids and yours,” he said. “So our opponents can consider themselves on notice. In this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the Left isn’t going to work. Mitt Romney and I know the difference between protecting a program, and raiding it.” Mr. Ryan’s final line — which included the declaration “We can make the safety net safe again” — brought a cheer resembling something like a last-minute goal in overtime of a championship game.
His secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, broke from her general avoidance of politics to pick up Republican accusations that Mr. Obama has failed to lead internationally, saying, “We cannot be reluctant to lead — and one cannot lead from behind.” The night gave the first real answer about what sort of wingman Mr. Ryan will be for Mr. Romney. He showed he was more than willing to go after Mr. Obama, using a mocking tone often laced with humor, but also that he would serve as a steadfast advocate for Mr. Romney, skillfully pivoting between the two messages.
And four years after Senator John McCain received the party’s presidential nomination and introduced his running mate, Sarah Palin, to the nation, Mr. McCain appeared here to declare, “Our president is not being true to our values.” To scattered applause as much of the audience milled about, he added, “I trust Mitt Romney to lead us.” Amid some criticism that the speech by Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey the night before was not focused enough on Mr. Romney, Mr. Ryan wasted no time getting to him in his speech.
Ms. Palin did not attend the convention this year. But Wednesday night, and Mr. Ryan’s introduction, had some clear parallels to her debut on the national stage, though the comparison draws argument from some of Mr. Romney’s campaign aides. Better known than Ms. Palin was then, Mr. Ryan nonetheless remains a young and unfamiliar face to large pockets of the country, and in need of the exposure the convention provided. “He helped start businesses and turn around failing ones,” Mr. Ryan said of Mr. Romney. “By the way, being successful in business — that’s a good thing.”
Like Ms. Palin, Mr. Ryan has electrified party faithful who were slow to come around to the presidential nominee, and the convention hall came alive to a degree it had not on Tuesday night. Also like Ms. Palin — at this point in 2008, at least — Mr. Ryan is viewed as the future of his party by some of its leading intellectuals. Mr. Ryan playfully referred to the generational gap between him and Mr. Romney. But when it came to what the new ticket has cast as the most pressing issue facing the nation, reining in the surging costs of entitlement programs, Mr. Ryan portrayed their approach as a politically brave effort “to meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words.”
But if Ms. Palin was viewed as lacking depth in public policy matters, Mr. Ryan brings a reputation for budgetary policy expertise and has avoided the kinds of gaffes that marred Ms. Palin’s public introduction.
And with Mr. Ryan’s policy proposals forming the bulwark of the Republican counterpoint to Mr. Obama’s budgetary proposals — feeding a standoff that almost led to a default on the nation’s debt a year ago — Mr. Romney has aligned himself with Congressional allies who have basement-level approval ratings in poll after poll.
At a speech to an American Legion convention in Indianapolis, Mr. Romney joined their fight on Wednesday, criticizing roughly $500 billion in cuts to military-related spending that will automatically go into effect if a budget deal cannot be pushed through Congress. Calling the cuts reckless, and accusing Mr. Obama of failing to lead, Mr. Romney said, “I’ll make reductions in other areas and install pro-growth policies to make sure that our country remains safe and secure.”
Giving pause to Republican Congressional strategists — and hope to their Democratic counterparts — Mr. Romney has also associated himself with Ryan proposals that would create a new approach to Medicare through which beneficiaries could use federal subsidies to pay for private plans or choose to stay in traditional Medicare.
Mr. Ryan cast his approach as a politically brave effort “to meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words.”
Mr. Romney’s aides have said they believe that antipathy for Mr. Obama’s health care overhaul has upended the longstanding political dynamic of Medicare in way that tilts the presumed advantage away from the Democrats. Mr. Ryan’s speech reflected that thinking.Mr. Romney’s aides have said they believe that antipathy for Mr. Obama’s health care overhaul has upended the longstanding political dynamic of Medicare in way that tilts the presumed advantage away from the Democrats. Mr. Ryan’s speech reflected that thinking.
“The president has declared that the debate over government-controlled health care is over,” Mr. Ryan said. “That will come as news to the millions of Americans who will elect Mitt Romney so we can repeal Obamacare.” “Obamacare comes to more than two thousand pages of rules, mandates, taxes, fees, and fines that have no place in a free country,” he said. “And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly.”
The Romney campaign’s confidence in the issue is not shared by Congressional strategists, some of whom say the effective embrace of Mr. Ryan’s Medicare approach risks imposing a toll on their candidates this fall. Mr. Ryan was referring to a provision of Mr. Obama’s health care overhaul that cuts more than $700 billion in projected spending from the Medicare program. Mr. Ryan’s budget assumes similar reductions, a point Democrats will be certain to continue making in the weeks ahead.
Democratic strategists said that new attention to Mr. Ryan’s Medicare proposals helped provide polling advantages for Democratic candidates, including Representative Mike McIntyre in North Carolina in his race against his Republican challenger, David Rouzer; Representative Jim Matheson of Utah in his race against the Republican mayor of Saratoga Springs, Mia Love; and for Representative Jerry McNerney of California over his Republican opponent, Ricky Gill. Likewise, Mr. Ryan, whose deep budget-cutting plans drew intense criticism from Mr. Obama long before Mr. Ryan joined the Republican ticket, laced into the president for failing to act on the recommendations of his own bipartisan debt commission. Mr. Ryan did not mention that he had served on that commission and dissented from its policy proposals, which included specific steps to reduce budget deficits.
The Democratic Congressional campaign committees have poured money into new television attack advertisements on Medicare. Mr. Obama’s campaign got into the act on Wednesday, with aides appearing in Tampa to hold a news briefing with a local volunteer, Carole Nenninger, 71, who detailed how Medicare had covered $1 million in cancer treatments for her husband, Bill. But that was of no concern to the audience, whose raucous reception of Mr. Ryan was resounding affirmation of his popularity with conservatives who have at times shown less enthusiasm for Mr. Romney, who watched the speech with his family from his suite nearby at the Marriott.
“If there’s a voucher, I’m a little skeptical about turning over medical insurance to a private insurance company,” she said. It was Mr. Ryan’s first turn on a truly national stage, and in many ways he was a marked contrast to his party’s vice-presidential nominee four years ago, Sarah Palin of Alaska. Mr. Ryan formally took his place on the ticket with a well-established reputation as a policy expert, with years of experience in Washington and with few surprises lurking in his past.
Mr. Ryan portrayed Mr. Obama as attacking rather than leading. But in other ways he represents an even bigger risk for Mr. Romney than Ms. Palin was for Senator John McCain in 2008.
“My dad used to say to me, ‘Son, you have a choice: You can be part of the problem, or you can be part of the solution,’ ” he said. “The present administration has made its choices. And Mitt Romney and I have made ours: Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation’s economic problems. And I’m going to level with you: We don’t have that much time. But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this.” Four years after Mr. McCain stood on the stage as his party’s nominee, he got a warm but somewhat subdued reaction as he declared, “Our president is not being true to our values,” adding, “I trust Mitt Romney to lead us.”
But two hours later, Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser and secretary of state under President George W. Bush, brought the crowd to its feet several times in a rare foray into electoral politics, even reprising Republican accusations that Mr. Obama has failed to project American strength and values consistently, saying, “We cannot be reluctant to lead — and one cannot lead from behind.”
Mr. Bush did not come to the convention, appearing in an emotional video that was part tribute to his father, the 41st president, with whom he reminisced while at the family vacation home in Kennebunkport, Me., and part endorsement of Mr. Romney.
In some respects, though, the party continued to reject the domestic legacy of the Bush years. The younger Mr. Bush has fallen out of favor with the party’s fiscally hawkish base, which now views many of his policies as irresponsibly costly. Mr. Ryan gave a nod to that. “In a clean break from the Obama years, and frankly from the years before this president, we will keep federal spending at 20 percent of G.D.P., or less,” he said. “That is enough.”

Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.

Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.