The Ryan Response and the Politics of Austerity

By Robert Creamer, Political organizer, strategist and author
Huffington Post
Posted: January 26, 2011 02:39 PM

The contrast between the values underlying President Obama's State of the Union Address and Representative Paul Ryan's Republican response could not have been more stark.

Ryan's response to the President's call that America win the future...was a demand that we return to the past.

His answer to Obama's appeal that we are "all in this together" was an unvarnished vision of "law of the jungle" social Darwinism.

He responded to the hope that we can succeed....with the fear that "America's best century will be considered the past century."

And from the political point of view - most telling - he responded to Obama's call that we invest in the future with what amounted to a call for austerity.

By framing the coming battle over national priorities as he did, President Obama set up a contrast with the Republicans that is a massive winner for Democrats and Progressives. By taking the bait, Representative Ryan sharpened the contrast.

The Republicans could not have chosen a better person to respond to the President - at least from the Democratic point of view.

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