Ryan's RNC Convention Speech - Music to Our Ears

Paul Ryan’s speech last night at the RNC Convention in Tampa proved that Mitt Romney had made the wisest, savviest choice in his selection of a running mate.

N.J. Gov. Christie’s speech was great; he covered all the all-American points.  Supporters were disappointed that he only mentioned the presidential candidate at the end of his 16-minute speech.  No one should really be surprised, or even feel embarrassed by that fact, not even Gov. Christie.  The truth is, Christie is a leader not a follower.  Someday, he may make a great president; he would have a difficult time following someone else’s orders.

But Paul Ryan.  All his years of speechwriting for other candidates, his background in economics, his family background, his experience in Congress, and his youth all paid off in the enthusiasm for him and for the presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

The whole speech was so wonderful, it’s hard to pick just one great moment.  An experienced speechwriter, he delivered the right mix of pronouns, he gave us the triads so important to a good speech.  He gave us excellent personal examples.  He used colorful illustrations, to set his ideas in the mind’s eye of his listeners (“College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life.”)  He gave us facts and figures to solidify his arguments.  And most importantly, he had no qualms about attacking the opponent, Obama.

The deal maker in speech, even though he had his audience sold early on in the speech, was his remark about the musical generation gap between himself and Mitt Romney.

“We’re a full generation apart, Governor Romney and I. And, in some ways, we’re a little different. There are the songs on his iPod, which I’ve heard on the campaign bus and on many hotel elevators. He actually urged me to play some of these songs at campaign rallies. I said, I hope it’s not a deal-breaker Mitt, but my playlist starts with AC/DC, and ends with Zeppelin.  A generation apart. That makes us different, but not in any of the things that matter.”

To use a triad:  brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.  This is one smart man.  In one paragraph, he bridged the generation gap that has been harrying the Republican Party.  Music has been a dividing line for generations.  A.C. and Led Zeppelin aren’t exactly my music; they’re more my older brother’s music.  My younger brother is a Charlie Daniels fan.  I was more into John Denver and Glenn Miller.  If you’re going to attract younger voters, you’ve got to whistle their tune.  In this one paragraph, Ryan appealed to the younger generation’s taste in music, bringing the GOP into the 21^st Century, and healed the gap by saying that the difference is insignificant.

He went on to discuss Romney’s support for Medicare, and Obama’s gutting of that social program.  America never should have been lured into such a socialist trap, but the voters of the time were, and now, for better or for worse, we’re stuck with.  Romney and Ryan are not going to pull the rug out from under us.  Ryan is as much a defender of the Greatest Generation as he is the Led Zeppelin generation.  Romney, and his point-man, Ryan, recognized that Americans themselves, through their years of hard work, paid into this program and deserve what they were promised.

Ryan followed the Conservative principles on every point in his speech.  Earlier in the evening, I was disappointed to hear moderate Republican speakers advancing the causes of wind and solar power.  Just as Paul Ryan’s delegates deserved to have their voices heard, so did these speakers.  But these programs are hardly sensible and have barely been vetted.  We don’t need to hear more advocates of these alternative methods; we need to hear the other side of the story.

However, Ryan’s speech was a balm for all the Liberal Republican hogwash.  Let us hope that his future boss, Mitt Romney, will deliver a speech just as stirring and evocative of the principles of the Founding Fathers.

As Ryan noted, “We don’t have that much time. But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this.”

Amen to that.