Why are both side happy?

The unusual thing about the selection of Paul Ryan as GOP vice presidential candidate is that it makes both the Republicans and the Democrats happy. Republicans see Ryan as an intelligent, well-spoken advocate for economic conservative ideas. They believe he will be able to present both the problems and the conservative solutions to the American public in ways that will be easy to understand and compelling. In short, Ryan will focus the race on solutions for the current problems causing economic malaise; Romney has a detailed plan what to do and Obama has no plan other than raising taxes. Democrats, however, are happy with Ryan because he will present conservative solutions to the electorate and they will then be able to attack the GOP ticket for "undermining" Medicare and Social Security, for taking food from the hungry and healthcare from the ill. With Ryan on the ticket, Democrats will have to talk less about their own plans (or lack thereof) and can spend the campaign in full attack mode.

These competing "happy thoughts" tell us much about the two parties. The GOP credits the American people with the intelligence and thoughtfulness to consider and decide on what course is best for America. The Democrats consider the public to be ignorant and distracted enough to be able to fool them with phony and demogogic arguments about the true content of the Ryan budget and Romney's plans for entitlements. Here's an example: The Ryan-Wyden plan for Medicare which is the latest version of Ryan's Medicare reforms allow any person to choose traditional Medicare in the future and current recipients see no change to their benefits under Medicare. That's right, Grandma will still be covered just as she is now. On the other hand, Obama and the Democrats have made deep cuts in Medicare payments in order to find funding for the costs of Obamacare; of course, these cuts kick in after the election. Estimates are that as many as one-third of the nations doctors will stop accepting Medicare patients if these cuts go into effect. Nevertheless, Obama and his campaign will portray Romney and Ryan as the ones attacking Medicare, and the Democrats expect that seniors will accept this narrative.

Of all the folks who could answer these ridiculous attacks, Ryan is perhaps the best on for Romney to have. Ryan does not get angry; he smiles and pleasantly bats aside the lies. Then he explains the facts in a way that anyone could understand. Charles Krauthammer calls this a Reagan-like quality. I agree. Ryan is pleasant and likeable and he is great at boiling down the points to clear and understandable points.

We all need to remember 1980. Democrats then were extremely happy that they were going to be able to run against a "right wing extremist" in Reagan. President Carter was presiding over a terrible economy and there were problems abroad with Iran. The entire Democrat campaign consisted of attacks against Reagan as too dangerous and unsuitable for the presidency. For his part, Reagan did not run a negative campaign. Oh, he pointed out Carter's failures as president, but he also presented clear and understandable conservative solutions to the nation's ills. Reagan was cheerful and pleasant. He never got angry at the constant attacks against him. The media was all in the tank for Carter, and in those days there were no cable channels or talk radio outlets to get Reagan's message out. Somehow, however, the Reagan message did get out there, and the American people responded not as distracted sheep but as intelligent individuals. Reagan won in a landslide.