The Wall Street Journal highlights the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) to give tonight’s Republican response to the State of the Union address. As the Journal notes, Ryan has gone toe-to-toe with President Obama before, faring quite well in the process. He has provided exceptional critiques of Obamacare, both as a budget buster (when speaking directly to the president at the “health-care summit”), and as a threat to America’s continued existence as a land of liberty and opportunity (when speaking on the House floor shortly before the Obamacare vote).  Articulate, knowledgeable, and likable, he is exactly the sort of person you can bet President Obama doesn’t want to see standing across from him at a podium in 2012. 

The Hill reports on tonight’s response, writing: