The Republican “Response” To SOTU

I’ve always found it strange that we refer to the opposition party’s speech following the State of the Union as the “response,” since it’s written prior to the delivery of the speech it’s supposedly responding to. That being said, I tried to take Rep. Paul Ryan’s speech as seriously as I could. He had a tough act to follow, with President Obama having given what I would call one of the best speeches of his presidency.

“I’d like to share with you the principles that guide us,” Ryan said midway into the speech. Later, he stated that  Republicans “hold to a set of simple convictions.” This language encapsulates well the theme of his response: Here’s the Republican ideology. Here’s what we value. Here are the philosophical differences between us and the Democrats. It’s understandable why Ryan, and indeed any Republican, would take this approach. The (purported) Republican platform of limited government and lower taxes sounds very appealing when presented as a set of values and abstracts.

Of course, when you get into the nitty-gritty of actual Republican policy, it’s not quite as attractive. People like the sound of small government, but they sure love big government when it’s giving them their Medicare checks. Tax cuts sounds like something everybody can get behind, but only when you don’t mention that it’s the millionaires who will be getting the vast majority of those cuts. And of course, everyone can agree that we should eliminate wasteful government spending, as long as it’s not Social Security, defense, education, police departments, military investments, or immigration enforcement that’s getting the axe.

“We believe a renewed commitment to limited government will unshackle our economy and create millions of new jobs and opportunities for all people, of every background, to succeed and prosper.” Okay, but what specifically comprises this “renewed commitment?” What legislation will reflect that? I don’t know. Ryan doesn’t say.  ”Spending cuts have to come first,” he says, without specifying a single spending cut that he’d support.  Sure, I can get behind cutting unspecified wasteful spending; I’ll just assume that the programs I personally find most wasteful will be the ones getting cut.

In short, it’s easy for Republicans to talk about tax cuts and small government in the abstract, because they don’t have to get into the specifics that will undoubtedly turn many people off. I know this might just sound like a garden variety argument against the authenticity of Republican populism, and I think that’s appropriate, given that Ryan’s speech was just garden variety Republican rhetoric. I know he’s perceived to be a smart guy in the GOP, but there was nothing of substance or thought here.

On the upside, Ryan was far more civil with his rhetoric than your average Republican Congressperson these days. And I mean it when I say that this is a commendable thing, and really does make a difference. He didn’t speak in apoplectic terms (well, okay, he did say that our “day of reckoning…is around the corner,” but that was an exception). He appeared friendly and likable in a mostly unforced way (and was certainly more civil than his colleague, Paul Broun).

But it’s the substance of these things that matters, and the substance of Ryan’s speech was entirely unsubstantial. He spoke in terms of ideals and values, not policy or legislation. I don’t think I heard a single specific policy recommendation during the entire speech; saying Republicans will replace ObamaCare BaucusCare with “fiscally responsible, patient-centered reforms” doesn’t count as specific. It was just, like so much Republican rhetoric about the deficit, hot air.

“It’s no coincidence that trust in government is at an all-time low now that the size of government is at an all-time high,” Ryan explained. Of course, that statement is entirely unqualified; how’s he measuring the size of government? The number of agencies? Percentage of employed workers in the public sector? Domestic spending over the last year? He doesn’t say, but it sounds like an impressive statistic.

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