House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is basking in Beltway praise for his "serious" and "courageous" 2012 budget — "courageous" because it proposes politically risky cuts to entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid going into a pivotal election year. House Republicans and GOP presidential hopefuls broadly embraced Ryan's proposal, if not all of its specifics, and The New York Times' David Brooks proclaims that it "will become the 2012 Republican platform, no matter who is the nominee." But could Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" be a road to electoral ruin in 2012?
Yes, this is political suicide: Republicans are "winning the grinding debate over relatively small cuts in the federal discretionary budget," says Mickey Kaus in The Daily Caller. But going after Medicare, seriously or not, is "a near-suicidal act that will lead Republicans off the cliff." Most Americans don't want the popular program to be cut. Republicans should know that — the "threat to Medicare is a big reason why [voters] reject Obamacare."
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