Paul Ryan Borrows a Mitt Romney Power Play in House Speaker Race
Did Ryan take a page out of Romney's playbook from the Bain and Company turnaround?
Rep. Paul Ryan's name has been bandied about as a candidate to replace John Boehner as House Speaker. Politico took a peek behind the curtain and found that the former vice presidential candidate and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee might be interested in the gig, but only on his own terms:
There's one remote scenario, people close to him say, in which Ryan would consider abandoning his long-laid career plans and go for the speakership: if he was the true consensus choice of the party. That means no opposition, no sniping, no acceding to demands in exchange for support.
Republicans—including the hard-liners who pushed out John Boehner and convinced Rep. Kevin McCarthy to drop his bid for speaker—would need to show they're prepared to follow Ryan.
Romney has publicly said Ryan would be great at the job and that he should rethink his reluctance, but perhaps he's giving Ryan some advice on the side? Because Ryan's terms sound awfully familiar. Here's Romney's own account of his return to Bain's consulting operation, from Hugh Hewitt's book, A Mormon in the White House:
"I met with the partners and said, 'Look, I'm willing to leave Bain Capital and become the chief executive officer [at Bain Consulting]…but there are a couple of conditions and you know what the conditions [are]. One is: You have to unanimously want it because if someone wants a different path, be my guest. Number two, you have to agree to stay. Barring some very unusual event, you have to agree to stay for at least a year to get us back on track."
Romney wound up delivered one of the most spectacular turnarounds in business history, rescuing Bain & Company from dire straits. Could Ryan do the same for the GOP?
Related: Paul Ryan is going to be Mitt Romney for Halloween. Not even kidding.