 President Trump speaks to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) at the White House on Feb. 14. (Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) By Max Ehrenfreund House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has long had a reputation as a "serious" policymaker in Washington, a grown-up dedicated to the arcane details of how the federal government works and capable of crafting real solutions to the nation's problems. Conservatives raved about his commitment to putting their principles into legislation, and even liberals who loathed Ryan's goals would concede his intellectual chops. President Barack Obama, visiting a Republican retreat in 2010 to call for interparty cooperation, praised Ryan's work on the budget as "serious" and "entirely legitimate." But following the failure of a Ryan-championed bill to repeal Obama's Affordable Care Act that was panned by experts on the left and right, Ryan's reputation as a policy expert is under renewed assault. "It's hard to make a case that his efforts have been all that serious," said Jared Bernstein, who was chief economist to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. "His numbers never add up." The New York Times editorial board this week wrote an even harsher assessment of the House speaker: "If he is the policy wonk of the Republican Party, then the Republican Party has no policy." To critics, Ryan's health-care failure is proof of what they've said all along. Read the rest on Wonkblog. | 
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