Goodbye, Blue Monday

The convention and the main campaign season is as yet some way off, but Governor Romney has already made a selection for his running mate:  Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.

It’s an interesting choice and, given the tenor of this election year, an intelligent choice.  Ryan is above all a fiscal policy wonk; the driving issues of this election year are the economy and the national debt.  He also brings a pre-packaged fiscal and economic plan to the table with him, and it’s one that has already appealed to the Republican base.  As more and more of the electorate become concerned about runaway Federal debt, more and more people will be giving the Ryan plan a look.

Make no mistake, True Believers; this is an election that will turn on the state of the economy.  With unemployment hovering around 8%, GDP growing at an increasingly anemic pace, and record numbers of Americans swelling the welfare and disability rolls, it’s plain we’re on a path that can’t be sustained.  Maybe Romney and Ryan will be able to turn things around.  Maybe they won’t.

But it’s pretty obvious the incumbents haven’t done so.