An Appeal to America's Heart....

Those who expect Ryan to sound like Ayn Rand -- an embarrassing past flirtation -- got something very different. Ryan quoted Abraham Lincoln on social mobility -- "an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life." Ryan identified with his old mentor Jack Kemp: "When he spoke of progress, he meant progress for everyone." And without quoting him, Ryan embraced Pope John Paul II's emphasis on the importance of healthy civic and religious institutions. It is a combination -- Lincoln, Kemp and Catholic social thought -- that must have set Rand aspinning.

At the same time, Ryan managed to probe one of Obama's sore spots -- the fact that he presides over the highest poverty rates in a generation.