My Quick Take on Paul Ryan's Departure

by Rod D. Martin
April 11, 2018

My quick take on Paul Ryan's departure.

The conventional wisdom (as well-summarized at Axios) is that Republican donors and Washington insiders will take Ryan's retirement as a sign that the House is lost, and that funding must shift to the Senate races as a "last bastion". There are kernels of truth in that, but as is so often the case, the CW misses more than it gets right.

As far as the base is concerned, Paul Ryan is an immense disappointment, John Boehner 2.0 or worse. Ryan's career (for those paying attention) began -- and continued for years -- as a brilliant young conservative reformer, intent on fixing everything that's wrong with the nanny state. Those paying attention -- and there were lots of them -- were thrilled when he was picked for Vice President, because it signaled that he really was the future of the party, in a more positive version of George H.W. Bush's having become the future of the party in 1980 and 1988. There was legitimate hope t…