Correct. The basis of Axelrod-Rahm-Obama-Chicago politics is to define your opponent. So far, Romney has made no attempt to define himself. The Chicago boys define Romney. Now they will define Ryan unless the GOP strategists get smart.
Ryan has the right message. His problem is that it is a long, complicated message. His audience, the swing voters, are ignorant of economics. They don’t know the difference between the deficit and debt, etc. So we need two parallel efforts.
1. Ryan needs sound bytes that sell.
2. Conservative non-profit educational groups need to target swing voters with educational messages on economics.
Groups like Heritage do us a disservice to advertise on Hannity and talk radio. They should advertise on sports and country stations where the swing voters are that we can attract. The reason so many are ignorant on economics is not just that the academics are leftist. It is also that we spend too much time and money preaching to the choir.
I agree, but this doesn't seem so difficult to fix. People understand what a household budget is, and that you can have weekly, monthly, or even annual budgets for your household. They also understand that if you go over budget you run a deficit.
It just needs to be pointed out in straightforward terms that every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every week, for the entire year, for every year he's been in office, Obama has spent way more than the government had, and that he didn't even bother to make a budget to follow. It's pretty easy to make this case in a way that is compelling.