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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > February > 09 > Entry
G. Will gives Ryan more credit than is due
Let’s talk a little about George Will’s column on a Republican’s proposed “Roadmap for America’s Future, ” to use the label of its author, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.
It’s good that the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee is putting forth something. Credit Ryan with “ideas,” Fine.
Will loves the simplicity of the plan, as opposed to “the Democrats’ impenetrable labyrinth of health care legislation.” Thing is, though, simplicity is easy to achieve when you’re talking about a one-person project. It’s when you have to round up hundreds of congressional votes that things get complicated and ugly. (Meanwhile, some Ryan equivalents on the Democratic side would be happy to put forth a simple health care proposal: extend Medicare to everybody. The difficulty would come with the next political step.)
It must be noticed that the Republicans are eager to make clear that the party as a whole has not signed on to the Ryan plan. “It’s his,” said House party leader John Boehner.
Meanwhile, no non-partisan authority has “scored” the proposal, that is, run the numbers to see what they do to the deficit.
Democrats are having a great time tearing into the plan on all manner of charges, such as “partially privatizing Social Security,” cutting taxes for the rich, raising them on the middle class and letting Medicare die.
Let’s set the merits aside. The important point for the moment is that this is one guy. It’s not an occasion for either crediting “Republicans” with something or tarring them for something.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Blog entry only, Martin Gottlieb, National Politics
Comments
By John
February 10, 2010 4:15 AM | Link to this
The last paragraph of Will’s piece ends thusly: “Fortunately, Ryan, assisted by Republican representatives Devin Nunes of California and Jeb Hensarling of Texas, helps refute the idea that Republicans lack ideas.” The Roadmap has ideas that are fiscally responsible and get America back on the road to solvency and sustainability. It would be nice if politics weren’t the issue and we could all work together toward fixing our huge fiscal nightmare that both parties have been ignoring for far too long.
By parental
February 10, 2010 7:34 AM | Link to this
It is annoying to hear Democrats constantly whine that “Republicans have no ideas, they are the party of NO!” Well, here are some ideas presented by one Republican with the backing of others. In private, I bet there are some Democrats who could go along with some of this too. You wanted ideas….You got some ideas. But, I can hear Pelosi and Reid and of course the leading ideologue Obama saying no to all of it, just for the politics of it.
By joe_mamma
February 10, 2010 8:28 AM | Link to this
You could hardly contain patting yourself on the back in a column last week for being open to ideas and facts in an column last week and now immediately dismiss a plan because it is “simple” before it can even be assessed or discussed.
By irishguy
February 11, 2010 1:02 PM | Link to this
Joe, of course conservatives only have “simple” ideas that are black and white. Not the incredibly “nuanced” ones with shades of grey that need a 2,000 page bill to explain. We’re just not as intellectual as a liberal…