The House speaker broke
the hearts of establishment Republicans when he told them he couldn’t be
their president—conveniently shifting the attention away from the fact
his speakership is already frozen in place.
Paul Ryan wants you to know he’s not in the running to be president, and it’s not like when the Speaker of the House assured the public he wasn’t in the running to be Speaker of the House.
This time he wants you to know he means it.
That’s why he’s been putting out shiny, overly produced, campaign-style videos on foreign policy and giving flag draped speeches about the “common humanity” that should unify the Republican Party and the nation?
Nevermind that. This time he means it.
“We
have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to
swirl or to have my motivations questioned. So let me be clear: I do not
want, nor will I accept, the nomination for our party,” Ryan told a
room brimming with reporters at the Republican National Committee’s
Capitol Hill headquarters.
(We’ll come back to the work Ryan wants to (and has failed to) get done in the House later.)
His forceful non-presidential announcement itself turned some heads on Capitol Hill.
“Was
he in the running [at] the convention?” asked Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
when The Daily Beast informed him of Ryan’s press conference. “From Paul
and from my friends in the House, I have had no one ever confirm the
fact that he ever had any interest.”
The
news that Ryan’s taken his name out of the running, by some accounts
for the 19th time now, hit more moderate Republicans like a punch in the
gut as they survey the GOP field that is dominated by reality TV star
Donald Trump and conservative bomb-throwing Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
“That’s
too bad. He was never pushing the talk – it was others,” said Sen. Jeff
Flake (R-Ariz.), admitting that he was one of those on the Hill
prodding Ryan to allow his name to be offered on the convention floor in
Cleveland. “Paul Ryan would be great for the party and he could
certainly win. I’ve known him for years and he’s a good conservative.”
But
we’ve heard Ryan take his name out of the running for Speaker, only to
offer it and be handed the most coveted gavel on Capitol Hill.
How different will this really be?
“Those
are apples and oranges. Being Speaker of the House is a far cry from
being President of the United States, specifically because I was already
in the House; I’m already a congressman,” Ryan argued as progressive
activists protested outside. “I was asked by my colleagues to take a
responsibility within Congress that I’ve already been serving in from
the one that I had. That is entirely different than getting the
nomination for President of the United States by your party, without
even running for the job.”
In fairness, his current job, that he didn’t want, isn’t going that great.
As
Speaker, the numbers wonk has failed to unite the conservative wing of
his party. Take this year’s budget battle, which Ryan seems to have
lost.
Ryan was
propelled to Republican fame during his tenure as chairman of the
Budget Committee where he offered aggressive proposals to cut the social
safety net and restructure entitlements, like Medicare. While that made
him the whipping boy of progressives, it earned him the GOP’s vice
presidential nomination in 2012.
After
that failed campaign, he returned to the House as the Ways and Means
chairman - not as prestigious as the veep spot but that’s where tax
policy is written, so powerful nonetheless.
When
he was elected speaker, he vowed to use his new perch atop the House to
show the American people that conservatives can govern by passing a
spending blueprint by Tax Day.
That
deadline is just days away. And the tea party wing of the House
revolted - as they are known to do - and it seems the lower chamber will
fail to even pass a budget.
Thus
instead holding a press conference showing a united Republican Party,
budget in hand, he was forced to insert himself into presidential
politics and beg convention delegates to stay in line and stop loving
him so much.
“If
no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe that you
should only choose from a person who has actually participated in the
primary. Count me out,” Ryan added. “If you want to be the nominee for
our party, to be the president, you should actually run for it.”
Many
conservatives argue it would be better for Speaker Ryan’s future to
focus on governing the House, instead of jumping into the crazy world of
Election 2016.
“There’s
no doubt about that,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) told The Daily Beast.
“Being Speaker of the House, it’s an extremely difficult and
challenging job, and he has the ability to be successful at that. I
would just ask, but I think his problems will be greater if he’s not in
the mainstream of Republican voters on big questions like trade and
immigration.”
Sessions,
who has endorsed Trump, added it would be unfair to millions of
conservative primary voters for Ryan or another GOP leader to
orchestrate a twelfth hour takeover at the convention.
“A
lot of people have spoken at these elections. American people are not
happy with the establishment of the Republican Party,” said Sessions.
“And I guess the Speaker of the House would have to be classified as
part of the establishment, right? So it would be hard to make that
move—to go from a Ted Cruz and a Donald Trump to somebody who symbolizes
the business as usual.”
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