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Analysis: Why don't Republicans just declare victory?

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DELAVAN -- Republican rising-star-turned-superstar Paul Ryan may be more enigmatic than you think.

As Margaret Plevak reports in this week's Walworth County Sunday cover story, Ryan walked the traditional Republican path Monday during a meeting with the CSI Media editorial board.

Ryan, who has been a regular on the national news and opinion media circuit, continued to raise the alarm over Democratic plans like the recently enacted health care bill or proposals for Wall Street regulation. (WATCH)

He decried the health care bill as a fiscal train wreck that will tip us further into debt while raising the specter of rationing. He also argued that the financial reform bill was merely another big-bank bailout.

Clearly, both issues -- fear of ballooning national debt and more aid to fat cats -- are rallying cries for many people I talk to here.

Although Ryan stuck to his story during our meeting, I couldn't help but wonder why he does.

In fact, why don't Ryan and his fellow Republicans just declare victory and move on? They've had more success than they appear willing to admit.

Consider a few examples:

During the election, then-candidate Barack Obama touted government-run health insurance exchanges, as well as a plan for those who couldn't get private insurance, as one of the centerpieces of his reform plan.

At the time, these plans, or what came to be known as the public option, were criticized by Republicans as the lynch pin of a government takeover of the health care system.

But much to liberals' consternation, the public option never made it into law.

So why didn't Republicans claim victory over the shaping of the bill? Co-opting the other party's issues and claiming victory as your own is one of the oldest tricks in the political playbook.

Knowing that some sort of health care bill would surely pass, Ryan, in fact, could have come out as one of the biggest winners.

Of all 538 members of congress, Ryan is the only Republican that I'm aware of with a published plan to tackle some of the nations most pressing issues.

Called the Roadmap for America's Future, the plan has prescription for everything from health care to Social Security.

Granted, the ideas in the plan aren't new. It includes proposals such as letting people under 55 invest some of their social security contributions in the stock market, or narrowing the tax code to two rates.

Ryan outlined some of those ideas Wednesday on FOX Business. (WATCH)

Those ideas were pitched in one form or another during the last presidential election, and failed to capture the imagination of the electorate.

There are, however, some provisions of Ryan's roadmap that have a certain common-sense appeal.

Targeting Social Security reform to those younger that 55, for example or allowing people to buy insurance from companies in other states don't seem to me to be line-in-the-sand types of issues.

Why hasn't Ryan pushed harder to have Democrats take a closer look at his plan?

He told us that it's because Republicans have been shut out of the legislative process.

"There's not a chance to make it into law under the current government," he told us.

But considering the deals Democrats were making to get enough of their own on board to pass a health bill, I wonder what they would have been willing to swallow to get a high-profile Republican to sign on.

Obama seems to have wanted bipartisan support for the health care bill as much as passing the bill itself.

If Democrats were willing to cave on things like the Cornhusker kickback, can you imagine what they would have been willing to conceded to Ryan?

And Ryan appears to have little to risk. His only opponent in November is Libertarian Joseph Kexel of Kenosha, and he's amassed a campaign war chest approaching $1.5 million.

He's sincere in that he has no aspirations for a higher national profile, turning down a chance to run for house minority leader, and he's said over and over again that he won't run for president.

So what's there to lose?

The latest Pew Research Center survey says that 78 percent of Americans distrust their government. While job ratings for the Obama administration are mostly negative, according to the survey, they are much more positive than the ratings for Congress. Where 40 percent say the administration does an excellent or good job, just 17 percent say the same about Congress.

If the self-described policy wonk really believes in his plan, what better time than now to start putting it into action?

However, if Ryan is merely supporting a Republican strategy for a takeover in 2012 in order to push through their own agenda on their own terms, we have a roadmap for that, too.