Zero Hedge — Citi On The Election

Citi also comments on the post-election fiscal cliff.

Zero Hedge
Citi On The Election
Posted by Tyler Durden

Howard Fineman — Paul Ryan Candidacy More Harm Than Help To Romney, Insiders Suggest

Howard Fineman parses the pros and cons. Short and incisive non-partisan summary. Notice that virtually all the issues are related to socio-economic policy and fiscal policy in particular.

The Huffington Post
Paul Ryan Candidacy More Harm Than Help To Romney, Insiders Suggest
Howard Fineman | editorial director of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group

Romney-Ryan foreign policy cred —or not? McCain-Feingold

Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold was one of the Senate's leading voices on foreign policy while in office, opposing the Iraq War and calling for a withdrawal from Afghanistan long before it became popular to do so. He served on the Foreign Relations Committee and had an extensive foreign policy agenda. And now that Mitt Romney has selected Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate, he's concerned with the lack of foreign policy readiness on the GOP presidential ticket.

"The Romney-Ryan ticket is extremely weak when it comes to foreign policy," Feingold said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "These guys do not have a serious view or background in what's going on in the rest of the world. This is extremely important in a president and vice president."
Romney's top surrogates have been rushing to defend the ticket's foreign policy chops.

On Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), another foreign policy heavyweight in the Senate, compared Romney's experience to Ronald Reagan's and criticized President Barack Obama's international agenda. Still, he had trouble coming up with foreign policy accomplishments for Ryan, simply noting that his budget policies would prevent deep cuts to the Pentagon under budget sequestration.

"I think that Mitt Romney understands our nation's challenges," McCain said on "Fox News Sunday." "He's proven that by the proposals that he's put forward, his understanding of the importance of our relationship with Israel -- which has hardly ever been worse -- his understanding of American exceptionalism, which President Obama has abandoned."

The Huffington Post
Russ Feingold: Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan 'Don't Seem To Care' About Foreign Policy
Amanda Terkel

Related to this is whether Paul Ryan is ready to step up to the presidency on day one if need be, which is the only actual job qualification for a vice-president.

Politico — GOP pros fret over Paul Ryan

“I think it’s a very bold choice. And an exciting and interesting pick. It’s going to elevate the campaign into a debate over big ideas. It means Romney-Ryan can run on principles and provide some real direction and vision for the Republican Party. And probably lose. Maybe big,” said former President George W. Bush senior adviser Mark McKinnon.

Politico
GOP pros fret over Paul Ryan
Alexander Burns, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin

Don Hazen — 9 Reasons Romney's Choice of Paul Ryan for Veep Is Smarter Than You Think

Romney's Ryan decision is a hugely dangerous step toward getting the Koch brothers' hand-picked star close to the presidency.

AlterNet
9 Reasons Romney's Choice of Paul Ryan for Veep Is Smarter Than You Think
Don Hazen

Best progressive analysis I've seen yet. All nine points are spot on.

As Warren Mosler points out, the good news is that this should energize the progressive base, which was getting pretty lackadaisical about showing up for Obama after the perceived sell-out.

It's a really questionable move for the GOP considering the way the demographics of the country are running. This is an outright slap in the face for minorities, whose numbers are increasing faster than whites. This agenda does not fit well with the values of the Millennials aka Generation Y either, and they are going to be the largest voting bloc for a long time.

So this could turn out to be a good short term strategy, but it is very risky long term. Could the GOP reverse perception of itself in the future to accomodate the coming demographic shift? Probably only if it is taken over by another faction and moves back toward the center in a significant way.