Time for some punches

Liz Peek: "This decision by Mr. Romney presents voters with a clear choice – a president who skips town when his hand-picked Simpson-Bowles budget commission is ready to deliver some unpleasant news- or a GOP team ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

With the economy stuck in slow-mo, Mr. Obama can hardly talk up his economic prescriptions. Because his campaign fodder is so thin, the president has descended into the gutter, slinging the vilest mud about Mr. Romney and his career – to the point that even some of his Democrat backers, like President Clinton, have risen to Romney’s defense. It is distasteful in the extreme. It is not presidential.

The arrival of Mr. Ryan on the scene will demand more from the Obama campaign. He will inject into this race serious concern about our fiscal future – a future that Mr. Obama has ignored. The president’s campaign will now pivot to attacking Ryan, and especially his proposals to put Medicare on a sounder footing. They will attempt to scare seniors into thinking Ryan wants to strip them of their benefits, when of course the truth is just the opposite. I have faith in Americans. I believe they understand that our entitlements programs are in serious trouble, and in need of overhaul. The GOP team will have to craft a simple and straightforward explanation of how they will protect seniors; the good news is that Ryan has been at this for some time – he knows the drill. So does Romney.

Of course, we will all look forward to the vice presidential debates with some enthusiasm. If the moderator is balanced, the match-up between Mr. Ryan and Mr. Biden should be a slam-dunk. Ryan is a self-professed policy wonk; Biden is a schmoozer with a penchant for gaffes.  Mr. Biden would be well advised to approach the debates as a “f..ing big deal.”

The most profound impact of the Ryan pick is that it casts the Romney campaign in a new light – not quite so cotton-wooled. Let us hope that the choice signals a more aggressive and punchy approach. There are less than 100 days left; Romney-Ryan has an excellent case to make. Now they need to go out there and make it.