The Republicans have managed to change the narrative, at least for the time-being, and focus on solutions.  They have Paul Ryan and his 2013 budget proposal to thank for that.  You can read about the particulars of his proposal here.  You can see a handy little chart here of the differences between Obama’s budget and Paul Ryan’s budget in terms of spending. 

After I’ve had the chance to study Ryan’s plan more thoroughly we’ll have some good conversations on this one – especially as it relates to our number-one budget-buster, Medicare.  In the meantime, some of the highlights, for those of you who don’t like to click on the links, include a two-rate tax system of 25% for the upper tax brackets and 10% for the lower bracket.  It would set the corporate tax rate at 25% and repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax.

But drawing the biggest reaction are Ryan’s plans for Medicare and Medicaid reform. 

Ready the commercials of Republicans pushing granny off a cliff …

Ryan is proposing blocking granting programs such as Medicaid and food stamps to the states.  And then Medicare would transition to a … consumer choice model.  The horror!  This is a quick explanation of how his plan would work: “Beginning in 2023, Americans could use their Medicare dollars to choose from a menu of private plans, along with Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service system. Every year there would be a competitive bidding process among all plans to determine the dollar amount of the federal contribution that seniors would use to purchase coverage.”  Competition … individual choice … the private market … these evil Republicans!

The reaction from the libs and proggies has been predictable. 

• White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer: Mr. Ryan’s budget “fails the test of balance, fairness and shared responsibility … It’s an approach that asks the wealthiest to pay their fair share, makes tough cuts to programs we can’t afford.

• National Economic Director Gene Sperling: "This is what I find most disturbing: It takes this basic Medicare guarantee and essentially creates a two-tier system in which people and healthcare plans have a fundamental economic incentive to try to siphon off the healthiest and youngest workers thereby raising costs more for people who want to stay in Medicare. That drives more people out of Medicare making the cost even higher for those who remain. So this process risks creating an actual death spiral for the basic guarantee of Medicare as more people are forced out of the system and those who remain face higher and higher costs."

• Senate Budget Chairman Sen. Kent Conrad: “We will be moving forward with appropriations bills at the level everyone agreed to just last year.  House Republicans, I hope, will do the same. If they fail to do so, they will once again threaten to shut down the government and needlessly imperil the economic recovery.”

• North Dakota Democrat House candidate Pam Gulleson: “As a nation, our goal must be to get our unacceptable deficit under control, and that means cutting spending. But it is wrong to do so on the backs of our seniors and middle-class families.  The scheme that Rep. Ryan is proposing … would end the Medicare guarantee and shift substantial costs onto seniors.”

Shut down the government … death spirals … burdening seniors and the middle class … fair share … I could have written this narrative in my sleep.  Hopefully Americans will see past the rhetoric and see Paul Ryan and his ideas as a positive step toward a freer, more independent nation, rather than a nation dependent on big government.