The last
time the two of them sat down and talked together, both men believed
Romney was about to become president of the United States. The age
difference and the expectation of the senior partner's unimaginable
elevation would have dictated a pronounced deference on the part of the
younger man. A well brought-up son of the Midwest, he could reasonably
be expected to evince respect for his elders regardless, and as someone
who would owe his own sudden elevation, and his future prospects, to the largess of the other, he would have an extra inducement to play the
beta role with gusto.
But now, a mere three weeks later, the
situation is very different. Romney is a spent force with no
political future left to him. In addition, he is judged by his peers,
and even his ardent supporters, to have been an incompetent candidate
who ran an incompetent campaign that was incompetently managed. Never a figure
who inspired affection within his party, he now is regarded with
something approaching scorn.
Meanwhile, Ryan probably feels some
resentment that, quite early in the campaign, Romney decided that the
congressman's ideas --- the same ideas that got him chosen in the first
place --- were a little too controversial for public airing, and opted
to muzzle him. Ryan probably also feels, rightly or wrongly, that as
far as his prospects go, the sky's the limit. Newly famous, praised for
his good looks, his unassuming charm, and his putative intellectual
seriousness, he might even regard himself as a man of destiny. He might
easily view Mitt Romney with condescension. The fellow had his
chance and blew it. Blew it badly. Meanwhile, he, Ryan, is pure
youthful potential, with vastly increased name recognition, increased
stature within his caucus, and an enthusiastic following among the base
of his party. He has just been entrusted with leading the House side of
negotiations with the White House on avoiding the fiscal cliff. He is
part of the House leadership. There is nowhere to go but up.
Mitt
Romney has always seemed like a pretty arrogant sort of man, the sort
of man who expects to lead any organization of which he is a part, the
sort of man who can close down a plant and dismiss an entire workforce
without hesitation or qualm. But losing a presidential election,
especially losing an election you expected to be a relative cake walk,
can probably make a substantial dent in your cockiness. This will be a
different Mitt Romney sitting on one side of that table. And he will be
facing a different Paul Ryan, or at least a Paul Ryan who views his
position in the world, and his position with respect to Mitt Romney,
very differently.
Not a word on the subject will be uttered, of
course. No hints or allusions will be vouchsafed. It will in no way resemble the overtly hostile
confrontation between George McGovern and Thomas Eagleton in
1972, described by Theodore H. White in his book about that year's
campaign. But Romney will probably
feel a little disoriented, a little unsure of his footing, and he will
probably be facing a man who seems much more in command, both of himself
and of the situation, than would have seemed possible during the
previous five months. The seesawing, subliminal drama of male dominance
behavior will be the fascinating subtext of Thursday's tete-a-tete.