Running mate for Romney

This weekend the Republican presumptive nominee for presidency Mitt Romney presented his running mate. Paul Ryan, 42, is president of the US House Budget Committee. Political observers have noted that he had been not the only candidate. Among the alleged running mates was Rob Portman, a senator from Ohio, and Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor.

Romney announced his choice on board of the battleship USS Wisconsin at the US naval base in Norfolk, Wisconsin. As he was introducing Ryan, Romney made a slip of the tongue naming him “the next US president.” However, he immediately corrected himself and said that he had meant “vice president.”

“We won’t duck the tough issues...we will lead! We won’t blame others...we will take responsibility! We won’t replace our founding principles...we will reapply them!” said Ryan in his turn, addressing the crowd of supporters.

The “Rising Star,” as Ryan is dubbed by journalists, comes from the liberal Wisconsin. Since the start of his career (he was first elected to the Congress at the age of 28), Ryan has passed all the stages of political life. Rumor has it that at a certain moment in time Ryan worked as a speechwriter for one of the Republican leaders, Dick Gephardt. He is mostly known as the author of the budget eliminating a number of welfare programs. Thus, according to CNN, his choice augurs nothing good to the middle class. However, Ryan must consolidate Romney’s foothold.

At a meeting with the sponsors of his election campaign, US president Barack Obama described Ryan as a “good man, devoted to his family, and articulate about Romney’s views.” “But this is a vision which I absolutely oppose,” said the president. Interestingly, at the start of his presidency Obama considered the ambitious Ryan as someone who could work on reducing the country’s federal debt.

Meanwhile, BBC reports that Romney and Ryan have started on a tour in dubious states, where neither Republicans nor Democrats have an obvious advantage. The tour includes visits to Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida, and Ohio. “At two separate events in North Carolina Sunday, Mitt Romney sought to portray his new running mate as a reluctant budget warrior who went to Washington to change the status quo,” writes CNN reporter Jim Acosta. But will the choice of Ryan’s candidature favor Republican interests? The Day asked Oleh SHAMSHUR, Ukraine’s former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the US, to comment on the situation.

“Ryan’s choice came as no surprise. However, he certainly was not among those most frequently forecast for this post recently. Ryan is a man with a lot of expertise. He is a very popular congressman among the Republican voters, first and foremost, the Republican Party’s conservative wing. This is how Romney is trying to consolidate his positions there.

“Secondly, Ryan is one of the best-known experts in Congress (and the US) on financial and budget matters. In particular, he was the major author of the Republican Party’s federal budget. Thus, Romney wants to canalize his discussion with Obama into the sphere of global, serious financial and economic issues, concerning America’s further development. Also, he backs the reform of Social Security and Medicare. This is a very competent man, and he will undoubtedly earn Romney points for intellectual scope, as well as in further debates in the final tour of the American presidential campaign.”

How can Ryan promote Romney’s victory in this presidential race?

“The previous election campaigns in the US show that the choice of the vice president can to a certain degree promote the presidential candidate’s victory. But the main question concerns the personality of the Republican candidate. This means that recruiting Ryan will not have a crucial impact on Romney’s chances. Although in my opinion, this choice is quite interesting. It will undoubtedly enhance the Republican campaign’s intellectual background, and the debate will gain a strategic edge. The Republicans will profit by his rhetoric and polemical talent. Still, I do not think that it will radically influence the outcome of the campaign itself. Choosing Ryan will help Romney mobilize the basic electorate of the Republican Party. American experts say that it is exactly what will have crucial importance in this very election campaign.”

Many of Romney’s critics point out to the fact that Ryan has almost zero experience in foreign policy. How are the Republicans going to tackle this?

“The same was said of Obama, when he ran for president in 2008. Ryan has long been working for the US Congress [since 1998. – Author]. This sort of work involves an understanding of foreign political issues. Undoubtedly, for this man foreign policy is not the main focus of his activity as a legislator, but nevertheless, he has a certain experience. At any rate, it is not less than Obama’s in 2008. Anyway, in terms of Ryan’s service in Congress and his competence in the major issues of America’s foreign agenda, this is rather a relative drawback.”

Mitt Romney is known to be a Mormon. There are mixed feelings about Mormons in America’s society. How can Ryan help a Mormon candidate win American Protestant votes?

“In this campaign, the religious factor is not crucial for Romney. It might have been more determinative at the nomination stage, given the traditionally great influence of fundamentalist Christians in this party. I do not think that it will determine the campaign on the national scale. Moreover, the pain threshold was crossed in 2008, when Barack Obama, the first Afro-American candidate for the Democratic Party, was elected president. So I do not think that the choice of Ryan’s candidacy was nothing else but an attempt to smooth over this issue. Of course, this is a factor, but it will not be a determinative one. The more so that Ryan is Catholic.”