More on the Ryan pick:
Ryan's inclusion on the GOP ticket guarantees that the financial issues threatening our republic today will remain front and center. As long as Ryan is around and playing a prominent role, Obama simply cannot effectively duck the issue.Indeed, Romney's selection of Ryan signals his irrevocable commitment to tackling our entitlements problem and solving our financial crisis. It loudly signals that these issues, along with related economic issues, will be the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. [Emphasis added.]
Of course, the Ryan pick is nothing more than a signal. It
is not a promise, nor is it a guarantee that a Romney administration will be
any different than an Obama administration (Sonic Charmer’s argument
notwithstanding). In many senses, the VP
pick is practically meaningless since the only real power the VP has—at least
as long as the president remains alive—is to act as the tie-breaking vote in
the senate should the need ever arise.
Or, to state it negatively, the VP doesn’t get to decide executive policy,
nor does the VP get to determine the budget, or how the war is run, and so on
and so forth. So, while Romney may be
signaling his allegiance to conservatives, this is not the same as credibly
promising to act conservatively in office.
Thus, the Ryan pick can be seen as a sort of false flag, in
that Romney is trying to appear like he is a conservative without ever actually
being one. Therefore, those who get
caught up in trying to find meaning in the VP pick are really nothing more than
fools seeking to rationalize voting for leftist, big-government type, because
they are more concerned about signaling instead of actual, real, practical
day-to-day policy. What’s sad is how a
nominally conservative VP pick is enough to sate them.
