Ryan Unveils Strategy on Medicare

Paul Ryan’s “forceful but prosaic acceptance speech on Wednesday
continued one of the campaign’s most surprising strategic twists: the
Republican effort to take the offensive on Medicare,” Ron Brownstein reports.

“Although polls show that Ryan’s proposal to transform Medicare into a
premium-support, or voucher, system still faces enormous public
skepticism, he aggressively insisted that President Obama’s health care
plan represents the real threat to the giant program for the elderly.”

“Ryan’s speech lacked the electricity of Sarah Palin’s show-stopping
acceptance four years ago; in his initial hesitation, he seemed a bit
like a car engine struggling to turn over on a winter Wisconsin morning.
And the fact that Ryan did not attempt, even in passing, to explain his
own Medicare proposal may signal continued uncertainty in his campaign
about its political viability. Instead, by targeting the impact of
Obama’s health care plan on Medicare, he signaled again the campaign’s
belief that the best defense on the issue may be a good offense.”