RT @nationaljournal: Ryan instantly shifts debate toward big issueshttp://njour.nl/QQUxYf #RomneyRyan2012
By Caren Bohan
IRemarkable so far for mudslinging on both sides and an absence of a serious debate about pressing issues facing the country, such as the budget deficit and the economy's long-term health.
That is about to change. Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate has the potential to bring a new clarity to the race by offering voters a choice between two starkly different visions for economic policy.
Hoping that the campaign would end up as a referendum on the anemic economy and high unemployment, Romney has touted his background as a businessman and insisted he would do a better job than Obama of reviving growth. But the economic prescriptions he has laid out so far are strikingly lacking in detail, especially on the issue of how he would rein in ballooning budget deficits.
As a sitting president, Obama has offered more detailed economic plans, including calling for more money to hire teachers and pay for infrastructure projects. But like Romney, he has avoided laying out specifics on how he would tackle big issues like streamlining the tax code and curbing the deficit.
Instead of a debate over the issues, the last few weeks have seen a volley of attacks over misleading campaign ads, including one by the Romney camp inaccurately accusing Obama of trying to gut welfare reform and a Democratic ad implying that Romney was to blame for the death from cancer of a steel worker's wife. The focus on the dueling campaign ads was preceded by a week in which Romney's verbal gaffes on an overseas trip dominated attention.
The Paul Ryan pick will instantly change the conversation toward the very detailed plan the Republican congressman has laid out for taming the deficit and curtailing the growth of entitlement programs such as Medicare.
With the Ryan plan at the center of the debate, the campaign will see a clash between a Republican vision that focuses on "supply side" policies of keeping taxes low for businesses and investors while trimming the social safety net versus a Democratic vision that includes a greater role for government in making targeted investments in areas like education.
Both campaigns are sure to resort to hyperbole, with Democrats warning that the Republican policies would impoverish senior citizens and Republicans accusing Obama of wanting to create a European-style social democracy.
But at its core, the debate will be over big issues and that would be a change voters would probably welcome.
