Washington — One Jewish Democrat’s attempt to reach across the aisle is now coming back to haunt him, as political rivals cite Senator Ron Wyden’s work with Paul Ryan as a sign of bipartisan endorsement for the new Republican vice presidential candidate’s ideas.
Wyden, Oregon’s senior senator, is a liberal known to break party ranks for causes close to his heart and was the only Democrat to partner last year with Ryan in an attempt to reform Medicare, the entitlement program providing health care for nearly 50 million seniors. Now, however, Wyden is seeking to distance himself from the proposal put out by Mitt Romney’s running mate.
Nevertheless, Wyden does not contest that their joint effort saw him working closely with Ryan for months on an issue both saw as crucial for their own reasons. And beyond this, there is something else that joins them that neither would likely be eager to acknowledge.
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