I'm not sure he has unified the GOP. I think it is just temporary for now. However, then again they might be right. It's really hard to say.
How Paul Ryan unified a fractured GOP
| CNN | - |
Washington
(CNN) Rep. Paul Ryan's winning pitch to House conservatives amounted to
this: Let's start over. For years, tensions had been boiling between
the hard right of the Republican Party and the House leadership, a
battle that effectively pushed ...
How Paul Ryan unified a fractured GOP
Over 70% of the House Freedom Caucus supports Ryan 03:23
Story highlights
- The Wisconsin Republican's decision comes two weeks after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled out of the race
- While Ryan initially resisted calls for him to run, he said earlier this week he would consider a bid if he could be a "unity candidate"
Washington (CNN)Rep. Paul Ryan's winning pitch to House conservatives amounted to this: Let's start over.
For
years, tensions had been boiling between the hard right of the
Republican Party and the House leadership, a battle that effectively
pushed Speaker John Boehner out of office and ended the bid of Majority
Leader Kevin McCarthy to succeed him.
But
Ryan, facing skepticism from hardliners in the House Freedom Caucus,
spoke bluntly to the conservatives, telling them that he was more
ideologically in line with them than with moderates in the so-called
Tuesday Group. He said he was not the type of leader who is out to seek
retribution, unlike past leaders.
The
45-year-old Wisconsin congressman said he would only push important
bills such as immigration that have a majority of support from
Republicans -- abiding by the "Hastert Rule." He promised bold policy
ideas on the House floor like welfare reform, health care legislation
and a tax overhaul -- and that the chamber would stand firm on those
policy proposals with Senate Republicans and the White House. He
softened his demand to roll back a procedure allowing lawmakers to
overthrow a sitting speaker.
And perhaps the most disarming pitch: He said he was ready to walk away if they said 'no' to him.
24 photos: Paul Ryan, rising GOP star
What
he achieved was a truce between disgruntled conservatives and a GOP
leadership desperate to get the House back on track. It's a ceasefire in
a long-running intra-party war that has cost the Republicans Senate
seats, bottled up legislation in Congress and weakened their hand
against President Barack Obama.
With
his national profile and bona fides with the right, Ryan was perhaps the
only Republican who could make that pitch, showcasing strength that
will immediately be put to the test when he's expected to be elected
speaker next week.
Rep. Jim Jordan of
Ohio, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said a Ryan pitch that won him
over was: "Go early and be firm" -- the idea that the House would stand
on its principles in fights with the other body.
"Find a policy, take a position as a conference and make the Senate do something to stand firm," Jordan said, paraphrasing Ryan.
After
the conservative caucus announced it would support him -- but not
endorse him -- Ryan later won over the two other coalitions in the
House: The Tuesday Group and the Republican Study Committee, another
conservative faction. By Thursday evening, Ryan made it official: He was
running for speaker, telling his colleagues in a letter he was "eager"
to do the job.
"I never thought I'd be
speaker," Ryan said in a statement. "But I pledged to you that if I
could be a unifying figure, then I would serve -- I would go all in.
After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of
encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united
team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker."
Speaker wasn't the job Ryan wanted
It's
a dramatic political twist for Ryan, the GOP's vice presidential
nominee in 2012 and someone who thoroughly enjoys his policy-heavy role
as the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
In
the immediate aftermath of McCarthy's sudden decision earlier this
month to drop out of the speaker race, Ryan appeared to be doing
everything he could not to run. Moments after McCarthy dropped out
during a meeting in the ornate Ways and Means Committee Room earlier
this month, Ryan grabbed Rep. John Kline of Minnesota and told him to
take the top job instead.
"He spun
around and almost choked me and said, 'Kline you gotta do this,'" Kline
recalled Thursday. "I knew then, and I think Paul knew then, he really
had to be the guy."
Ryan knew his life
would change moments before McCarthy made his bombshell announcement. He
was slated to give the nominating speech to McCarthy in the conference,
but instead got a heads-up that those remarks wouldn't be necessary.
The majority leader instead urged Ryan to consider a bid.
McCarthy
knew Ryan was reluctant, but he immediately began to figure out what he
could do to help, according to people familiar with the matter.
There
was discussion about divvying up responsibilities, but also about
redefining the role of the speaker. Ryan envisioned being a more
prominent face for the party -- someone willing to deliver the message
in the media, and spreading out some of the fundraising and operational
duties to other members of the leadership team.
McCarthy
served as a counselor to Ryan throughout the process. He had a partial
playbook already in hand since he had previously met with House GOP
members, especially the conservatives in the Freedom Caucus, and had a
good read on their concerns about shifting to a more "bottom-up"
process.
7 photos: The hand-off: How Speakers Boehner to O'Neill came to power
And
since Ryan didn't want the job, many conservatives in the caucus seemed
to believe him that he wouldn't try to make the speakership more
powerful. Conservatives had long complained too much power resided in
the leadership office, and it would be a non-starter for a candidate who
wanted to centralize more power. It remains, of course, to be seen how
Ryan operates over the long-term.
"My
question is who in their right mind would ever want that job?" said Rep.
Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia, a member of the Freedom Caucus. "We can't
survive another eight years like the ones we just had. We won't recover
from that. He's willing to put his own self on the line."
After
the Freedom Caucus voted Wednesday to support Ryan, but not officially
endorse him -- which was one of his preconditions for taking the job --
there was little option for Ryan to walk away. While they left
themselves some room to say they still had issues with Ryan's
conditions, they were also aware in their internal discussions that if
they blocked yet another candidate - and one who had majority support -
they would be overplaying their hand.
Asked
why he was confident Ryan would be elected speaker next week, McCarthy
told reporters flatly, "when I ran, 80% of the Freedom Caucus was
against me. Now they're not."
Changing the rules to vacate the chair?
Ryan's
problems, however, are bound to grow with the right as soon as he takes
the gavel -- namely on two matters: Fiscal issues and his desire to
make it harder to overthrow a sitting speaker.
On
the latter, there's no agreement between him and the Freedom Caucus.
But he clarified his demand by saying he only wants to "change" the rule
-- not eliminate it. And he agreed to consider the matter later as part
of other rules changes the caucus has sought to enact in order to give
the rank-and-file a bigger say.
"We are
not changing this fundamental right that members have relative to the
'motion to vacate,'" Jordan told CNN. "We're not for that. We made that
very clear."
Ryan was not pressed on
many policy matters, but will have to weigh in on the contentious issue
of raising the national debt ceiling as early as next week -- and
extending government funding past Dec. 11. But he promised that
immigration reform, an idea he has been warm to in the past, would not
be a measure he would pursue in a Ryan speakership.
As
he continued to dither about taking the speakership, Republicans began
looking for alternatives -- and a growing number looked at Kline, a
back-slapping pol who likes to smoke cigars.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., liked the idea.
"I'd
be able to drink and smoke in the speaker's office for another year,"
Cole said, referring to Boehner's penchant for puffing cigarettes.
After next Thursday, he will likely have to ask Paul Ryan.
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