The Washington Post reports that Representative Ryan will be giving it from the House Budget Committee room, which is simultaneously: nicely symbolic; and a reminder that there’s a reason why Ryan is now the House Budget Chair.

It’s an interesting choice.  As the WaPo noted, the last two choices were Governors Jindal (2009) and McDonnell (2010).  While I actually liked Jindal’s response, there’s no denying that the message being conveyed by both of the GOP’s picks was more or less parallel to the actual speeches themselves.  In Jindal’s case, the Republican message was The Democratic party lies when they claim that we hate minorities; in McDonnell’s, it was You ain’t so tough, Barry.  You can be beat.  Knowing what I know of Rep. Ryan – I expect to see at least three graphs during his response – the underlying message here is We will be talking about fiscal responsibility, whether or not the President chooses to himself.

If President Obama is smart, he’d be well-advised to not permit too much of a contrast in that regard between his remarks, and Rep. Ryan’s.  He’d also be well-advised to take Ryan’s advice, but I’m not about to start relying on “And then a miracle occurs” when it comes to domestic policy.

Moe Lane (crosspost)