When Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney took to a Wisconsin stage with Rep. Paul Ryan on Monday, the contrast was stark.
The White House hopeful accused of offering few policy specifics was standing next to the man who advanced in Congress a conservative budget proposal that slashed spending and proffered reforms of massive entitlement programs. It underscored a major problem concerned Republicans say they face in trying to oust President Obama this fall: Answering the question of what Romney stands for.
While Ryan’s budget proposal energized conservatives intent on shrinking government, it was a lightning rod for Democratic accusations that Republicans were trying to eliminate a social safety net on which the elderly and poor rely. Asked about the plan, Romney offered words of praise for Ryan’s ideas while holding the proposed reforms at arms’ length.
“I understand that Romney doesn’t want to tie himself to conflict-ridden positions, but he risks looking like that weathervane we all know about,” said one prominent GOP strategist, who still called Obama a “slight favorite because of Romney’s timidity.” “Romney’s greatest vulnerability is that a lot of people still don’t know where he stands. He can’t do that much longer and expect positive results.”
But Ryan himself sought to assuage such concerns with Romney, telling voters that their choice this fall is clear and crucial to the nation’s future.
“America is at that proverbial crossroads; America has a choice of two futures to make in front of us,” Ryan said at a stop in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., where he stood with Romney and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. “And when you take a look at the choice we have to make in front of us, it is so crystal clear.”
Yet, some within the GOP aren’t so sure.
“Yeah, we know President Obama has been terrible,” a former Romney adviser told The Washington Examiner. “But we are still waiting for Mitt to make the case that says more than, ‘I’m not the other guy.’ It still might work, but where’s the true grit?”
Romney’s dilemma — how to excite his conservative base without alienating independents — was never more clear than when Obama last week announced that certain illegal immigrants would not be deported by his administration.
When given the chance to offer a different vision on immigration, however, Romney declined, refusing to say whether he would repeal Obama’s directive.
Despite complaints that Romney needs to be more assertive in offering a reason to vote for him, polls show the Republican contender running even with Obama in a handful of swing states. Romney’s confidence is being further bolstered by new reports showing that unemployment remains high, particularly in states like Wisconsin that traditionally vote Democratic in presidential contests.
“I think President Obama had just put [Wisconsin] in his column,” Romney said Monday. “He just assumed at the very beginning Wisconsin was going to be his. But you know what? We’re going to win Wisconsin. We’re going to get the White House.”
