Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

politics

Hoosiers relate to VP-pick Paul Ryan’s RNC rhetoric

TAMPA, Fla. — During Wednesday’s proceedings at the Republican National Convention, Indiana’s delegates heard from speakers emphasizing the importance of change.

Pete Seat, an alternate delegate and Indiana’s GOP Communications Director, viewed Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech from delegate seating just off the floor.

Ryan’s message resonated with him most because of what he called his ability to appeal to young people. He especially loved Ryan’s description of fading Obama campaign posters, he said, because he knows many young people ready to vote for a new candidate this time around. All in all, Seat said, the nominee’s speech was “awesome.”

As in the days before, the blue walls of the convention displayed a large, white message with the day’s theme. Yesterday, they read, “We Can Change It.”

And change, the Republicans argued again and again, would come in the form of a new president.

In his acceptance speech, Ryan drove home the theme of needed change and focused on themes of budget and economy.

“After four years of getting a run around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is governor Mitt Romney,” Ryan said.

Mike Wolf, an associate professor of political science at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said before Ryan’s speech that the candidate’s job was to establish just why change would be needed come Election Day.

Ryan acknowledged that Obama was elected during an economic crisis but argued the president promised a recovery that never came.

Wolf said the issues discussed weren’t specifically relevant to Indiana’s voters. Rather, Wolf said, speakers throughout the week have touched on larger issues like the economy in an effort to point out the incumbent party’s flaws.

“Ladies and gentlemen, these four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House,” Ryan said. “What is missing is leadership in the White House.”

Wolf said the speakers’ criticism at the convention is nothing new.

“It usually is that the odd party has to cast the current situation in the United States as not the norm, that things aren’t going correctly in America,” Wolf said.

Wolf said the convention’s tone had so far been negative, but not unusual. Speeches follow a somewhat formulaic approach, Wolf said.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, drew cheers with his address.

“We cannot afford four more years,” Portman said. “How about no more years?”  

“That part of the narrative is pretty usual for the out party,” Wolf said.

Tomorrow, Wolf said, Presidential nominee Mitt Romney will shoulder the burden of establishing how he’ll create that change.

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe