Obama Budget Politics Revisited: Target Ryan

Bag is in summer mode this week, recharging for the conventions. In the spirit of “what goes around, comes around,”  we have curated a group of posts that say as much about where we are or what we’re seeing now as what we saw at the time.   On each, we’ve added a few current thoughts. As always, we are interested in your take. We will be back in real time on the 20th.

This photo serves as a major cautionary note and a reminder to the Romney campaign of the high risk involved in casting their lot with the Ryan plan. It’s hard to believe the President isn’t looking forward to the Fall having already thrashed the plan with the Congressman sitting right in front of him.  Here’s the original April 13, 2011 post.

***************************

A picture likes this makes me love the news photo biz.  In an act of careful timing (and aim), Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque nails the political strategy behind Obama’s surprise budget address in which GOP budget guru Paul Ryan (having dominated the stage for weeks with his plan to end social security as we know it) gets a surprise dressing down  for thinking he could possibly eclipse the President of the United States.

Typically unflappable, but likely assuming he’s safely offstage, note the hangdog look.

(caption: U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) arrives to listen to President Barack Obama deliver a speech on U.S. fiscal and budgetary deficit policy at the George Washington University in Washington, April 13, 2011. Obama has proposed cutting ballooning U.S. budget deficits by $4 trillion over 12 years and called for talks with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to address the worsening fiscal woes.)