The Clean And Articulate Paul Ryan

Just for fun I thought it would be interesting to write a piece describing Paul Ryan as if I was Joe Biden describing candidate Barack Obama in 2008. I'm not sure what the outcome of this exercise will be or if there will even be one. The obvious elephant in the room in comparing the two is race, but if you throw that out I think this could still be interesting. By now most republicans are probably offended by the notion that Ryan could be compared to Obama. So be it, this republican version of Joe Biden is not out to make friends.

"Mr. Biden, what do you think about candidate Ryan?" Anonymous reporter asks.

"Well, I tell ya. This guy is the first, you know, clean and articulate guy they've produced out of Wisconsin." Biden responds.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know, its the farm land up there. Good God fearing people, but bless their hearts when it comes to policy."

Without the injection of race was the above scenario as offensive? I would say no. The quote in 2008 did do something though. It brought an underlying issue about the campaign to light. For all we know this could have been staged. Would you take a guy as your V.P. if he said anything close to this? Wait, it has been done. Reagan took Bush after the "voodoo economics" quote. Does getting the elephant out of the room clear uncomfortable sentiment in voters? I think it does.

Now that I have established a direction in this piece, lets put it to practice. The elephants in the room for Mitt Romney are his wealth, tax returns and Bain Capital. When those on the right tried to play Biden they were thoroughly hushed. Newt Gingrich was basically called a traitor. Some agreed though, saying that it was a part of the vetting process. I agree as well, but the way this should have been approached should have been different. It should be handled in the tabloid gotcha moment way. Sorry, but that is the only way to get people's attention these days.

So to put a little spin on what Joe Biden did in 2008 I will present something the Romney campaign could do now. The biggest issue the Romney campaign should be worried about is the label of being rich and out of touch. The democrats are doing a great job on this one. To approach this issue I would go to the old "didn't know the mic was on" routine. One Paul Ryan could be visiting with a small business owner when he gets the question.

"I don't trust Mitt Romney because he is rich." Joe the business owner says.

"Ya know what Joe, I thought the same thing too. I mean who makes 20 million a year off of investments." Ryan shockingly responds.

"What?"

"That's what I thought before I got to know the real Mitt Romney." Ryan follows up.

This exchange would be played on every news/entertainment program for the rest of the campaign cycle. It would also get the point across to voters on the fence. The message would be that the GOP understands your concerns and that's why we have good old Paul Ryan there to make sure Romney doesn't get out of line. While a political campaign would never admit to doing something like this, it happens. It's part of the game. This is also how elections are won.