President Obama approves of Mitt Romney's vice presidential nominee

President Obama in Chicago yesterday, celebrating the best belated birthday present he could have asked for: Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Obama said that Romney's selection of Ryan shows that Romney is committed to a top-down agenda rooted in the notion that the only thing you need to do for economic growth is cut taxes for the wealthy and reduce regulation on big business. The problem, Obama said, is that our experience shows that trickle-down approach doesn't work. It's fairy dust, he said, and we can't afford to raise taxes on the middle-class to pay for a tax cut for the wealthy.

The thing you notice in these remarks, which I've posted below the fold, is that President Obama practically didn't need to change a single word in his stump speech. For all the talk of Ryan being a game-changer, it was actually more of a double-down. Romney wasn't saying he was ready to be bold and different; instead, he was saying, "Yes, I really believe this crazy tea party nonsense." And he was saying he's serious about following the tea party agenda if he gets elected. It was a public oath of allegiance. And it validated everything President Obama has said about Mitt Romney's priorities.