海角大神

To unify House Republicans and move forward, Paul Ryan is seizing on 鈥渢he vision thing,鈥� as former President George H.W. Bush once called it.

The new speaker is often referred to as an 鈥渋deas man,鈥� and the timing for promoting a vision seems good: Hugely divisive issues such as the budget and debt ceiling were largely cleared away by last week鈥檚 two-year budget deal, and next year is an election year 鈥� meaning that not much legislative business will get done, leaving more room for messaging.

The next step for the party, Speaker Ryan says, is a common vision.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been bold on tactics, but we have been timid on ideas, on policies. That is where we need to go,鈥� the Wisconsin Republican told NBC鈥檚 鈥淢eet the Press鈥� on Sunday.

Rallying around 鈥渂ig ideas鈥� will be 鈥渦nifying,鈥� said Ryan, who also appeared on four other talk shows.

But reaching such consensus will be a huge challenge, even for a strong communicator like Ryan. The hard-line Freedom Caucus is not going away. Neither is the influential blogosphere of right-wing commentators.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any reason to think that the Republican Party will suddenly come together in unity overnight,鈥� says Matthew Green, an expert on the speakership at Catholic University in Washington.

Ryan's two main tasks

Ryan essentially has two main tasks, Professor Green says. He needs to 鈥渁ppease, if not appeal to鈥� the conservatives in his party and in the public. And he needs to 鈥減osition the Republican conference so that it is helping the party鈥檚 presidential nominee.鈥�

Ryan is ready to dig in. 鈥淲hat we really have to do here is rally around a common set of principles, apply them to the problems, and then give the country a bold choice,鈥� he said on Sunday.

No one on the Hill is better positioned to lead that charge than Ryan, say many Republicans. He鈥檚 the GOP鈥檚 reform guy on budgets, taxes, and 鈥� more recently 鈥� welfare and poverty.

The former vice presidential candidate is the author of budget proposals that many tea party Republicans ran on. Those proposals reflect his values 鈥� shrinking government, expanding opportunity for individuals, and radically reforming entitlement programs, such as turning Medicare into a voucher system.

Ryan is 鈥渁 thinker,鈥� says Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank in Washington. As such, he鈥檚 鈥渋deally suited鈥� to lead the House, a task that Mr. Brooks likens to turning a corporation around.

鈥淭he best way to fail is to do exactly what the last guy did, except do it harder,鈥� says Brooks. 鈥淭he best way to succeed in a turnaround is to expand the leadership, from one of administration to one of vision.鈥�

That means giving more voice to dissenting views, 鈥渂ecause that鈥檚 what you do in the marketplace of ideas,鈥� he notes. And this is what Ryan is trying to do. One reason that most members of the Freedom Caucus voted for him as speaker was because he promised to run the House in a more bottom-up, less top-down way.

As a former committee chairman himself, Ryan says he favors handing more power back to the committees and opening up bills to more amendments so the rank and file can have a greater say.

Still, it鈥檚 going to be a very heavy lift for the new speaker to unite a fractious bunch.聽

A peek at the challenges

Ryan told CBS鈥檚 鈥淔ace the Nation鈥� on Sunday that he thinks Republicans should show Americans what GOP tax reform 鈥渓ooks like鈥� and what a 鈥渞eplacement鈥� to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, looks like. But the previous GOP leadership also tried to unify the conference behind a health-care alternative. Several bills emerged 鈥� but Republicans couldn鈥檛 find consensus.

Ryan himself tried to get agreement on using corporate tax reform to pay for a long-term highway bill. He couldn't achieve that. And that was just one slice of the tax code.

John Boehner also promised a more open Congress when he became speaker in 2011. He cleaned up ethics problems and handed some power back to committees. But the amendment process remained tightly closed in the Rules Committee, known as the speaker鈥檚 committee, in part to keep Democrats from upsetting the apple cart.

Once Ryan gets down to legislation, he鈥檒l discover just how hard it is to keep his conference unified enough to get to 218 votes (the number needed to pass a bill) 鈥� and it鈥檚 even harder with a more freewheeling, open process, says Sarah Binder, a congressional expert at the Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank in Washington.

His first test will be the long-term, expensive highway bill, which is due for a vote in the House this week. There could also be difficulties as budget appropriators try to apportion out the spending levels set in the budget deal. Clashes over "policy riders" to a spending bill could lead to another government shutdown.

鈥淗e has a pretty tough challenge ahead of him,鈥� Ms. Binder says. His intentions 鈥渁re sound,鈥� she says, but it will be very difficult to pass bills with a majority of the majority, as Ryan says he wants to.

The key there, she suggests, is held by the sizable 鈥渕iddle鈥� of the caucus 鈥� Republicans who 鈥渉ope 鈥榶es鈥� but vote 鈥榥o.鈥� 鈥�

She is referring to big compromise bills 鈥� such as the recent budget deal 鈥� where a majority of Republicans vote against a bill, even though they support it. Their concern is that they will be 鈥減rimaried鈥� by hard-right candidates at home if they favor compromise.

鈥淚s there something different about Ryan and people wanting to be on his conservative, ideological team that would give some cover to those folks in the middle?... You have to turn those members around,鈥� she says.