A Tale of Two Resumes

But Ryan’s Washington experience is also light, at least for a potential President—which, after all, is the main job description of a Vice-President. Ryan has worked as a think-tank staffer and Congressman, but he’s never been in charge of a large organization, and he has little experience with foreign policy.

The New Yorker

This floors me.  Ryan has been in Washington for 14 years but is 'light' for a VP.  Obama had been in Washington for two years and had been in the Illinois State Senate for 7 years before that but was President material.  Really?  As far as qualifications, Ryan has vastly more Washington experience than Obama had and has been the chairman for the House Budget Committee, considered one of the high positions in the House.  By contrast, Obama was chairman of no committees during his tenure in the Senate.  Somehow, I suspect the New Yorker gave high praise to Obama's lesser credentials even though he was on the top of the ticket.

The article goes on to note a weakness is that "Ryan has no significant private-sector experience."  Again, you must be joking.  Ryan's private sector experience is certainly equivalent to Obama's almost non-existent work history.  This is like complaining that Eisenhower didn't choose a fellow military man or Clinton didn't pick a governor.  Isn't diversity (of experience) a good thing?  Romney has plenty of private sector and gubernatorial experience so a legislator ads to the ticket.  By contrast, Senator Obama chose another senator as his running mate giving the ticket no executive or private sector experience and the results of that choice are in: 42 months of 8% or higher unemployment and 4 consecutive budget deficits over a trillion dollars.

Looking at legislation, Ryan has submitted a budget that passed in the House, which admittedly is run by his party.  Obama submitted a budget that failed 99-0 in the Senate, which is run by his party.  Ryan has offered a plan to avert the fiscal catastrophe (think Greece) that looms and Obama's response has been to demonize Ryan while offering no alternative plan.

The article reminds me why I seldom read the New Yorker.