Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan tore into President Obama’s fiscal history during his acceptance speech before the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida Wednesday evening.
The Wisconsin Congressman charged that Obama’s pursuance of health care reform and stimulus funds have drained the nation’s resources.
“Maybe the greatest waste of all was time. Here we were, faced with a massive job crisis – so deep that if everyone out of work stood in single file, that unemployment line would stretch the length of the entire American continent,” Ryan said. “You would think that any president, whatever his party, would make job creation, and nothing else, his first order of economic business.”
Ryan, the chair of the House Budget Committee, is widely known as the party’s point person on fiscal matters. As the architect of a controversial budget plan that included deep cuts in Medicare spending, many political observers initially believed his inclusion on the ticket as a possible liability.
However, Ryan stated that the party will ultimately win the debate on Medicare, as well as a series of other tough issues, particularly since, in Ryan’s description, Obama lacks substance.
“It all started off with stirring speeches, Greek columns, the thrill of something new,” Ryan said. “Now all that’s left is a presidency adrift, surviving on slogans that already seem tired, grasping at a moment that has already passed, like a ship trying to sail on yesterday’s wind.”
Ryan praised the name at the top of the ticket as a like-minded leader, despite coming from different faiths, backgrounds and generations.
“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,” Ryan quipped. “I said, I hope it’s not a deal-breaker Mitt, but my playlist starts with AC/DC, and ends with Zeppelin.”
“That makes us different, but not in any of the things that matter,” Ryan added.
