Big ideas come to Rep. Paul Ryan in small places.
Take his expansive new policy book, The Way Forward, Renewing the American Idea. It came to him while sitting in a tiny tree stand, bow hunting for deer in rural Wisconsin.
“A lot of it actually came from that,” the 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee said during a lull in his book tour. “It is hard to explain to people who aren’t hunters. It is very peaceful, very cathartic. It really is pretty much the only ‘me time’ I have anymore and it just helps you clear your mind,” he said of his time hunting alone and with his kids.
Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, said that immediately after he and Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election to President Obama, people urged him to get ready for his own presidential bid in 2016.
He didn’t. Instead he took his preteen daughter Liza rifle hunting for deer.
“That morning, Liza bagged a really nice 10-point buck; an accomplishment I had not achieved until well into my 20s. Moments like that really help clear the mind. Soon, the way forward was clear. The things I really care about — advancing good policy and helping our country — hadn’t changed. And it was time to open up a conversation about where we go from here,” he wrote.
For many of his supporters, that’s the beauty of Paul Ryan — he’s an open book. “A lot of the policies I talk about came from my thinking in those moments. It’s just kind of how it is,” he said. “It’s the most peaceful quiet time I get. There’s nothing like watching the woods come alive at dawn or dusk, watching just the wilderness at dawn or dusk. I just love those moments.”
Next year, Ryan plans to “lean in” on deciding about a 2016 bid. At each stop of his book tour, flocks of supporters urge him to run and he scores very high on GOP presidential preference polls. But he first just wants an honest discussion with his family and friends on a run.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
