CLEVELAND, Ohio—Paul Ryan laid out the Republican agenda to a crowded room of the party's Pennsylvania delegates on Monday morning, saying that Donald Trump is the only presidential candidate that could move the agenda forward.
Ryan played to the Pennsylvania audience by waving a Pittsburgh Steelers "Terrible Towel," saying that his willingness to betray his own Green Bay Packers shows "how much he wants to win this election" and also how important Pennsylvania could be.
"You're a pretty big delegation," Ryan said. "You could decide this whole thing, Pennsylvania."
The majority of Ryan's time on stage was spent outlining the platform Republicans need to embrace if they want to defeat Hillary Clinton, noting that a majority of Americans think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
"We will not win an election by just saying how bad the Obama years were," Ryan said. "We will win an election if we give this country a really clear choice. We will win this election if Americans going to the polls in November see, 'I can go and stay on the same path that I'm on' or 'the Republicans are offering a better way—they are offering a clear choice.'"
Ryan detailed the party’s plans to reform welfare, foreign policy, the tax code, and the regulatory state.
Although he said the election could not be won simply by bashing Obama, he argued that the state of the world under his watch was unacceptable.
"The world is on fire, it is getting really serious," Ryan said. "We don't have a foreign policy today—what we have today I wouldn't really call a policy. We've got leading from behind, we've got threats getting bigger and closer."
Ryan acknowledged the serious division among Republicans, but said Donald Trump is the only candidate in the race that believes in his agenda for the future of the country.
"Guess what—Hillary Clinton doesn't agree with any of this stuff," Ryan said. "Donald Trump does."
"I know this was a tough primary, a tough election, but this is a binary choice—Trump or Clinton," Ryan said. "Thats your choice."
Ryan also heaped praise on Trump's choice to make Indiana Gov. Mike Pence his running mate.
"A lot of us served with Mike Pence—this is a man who really does know his principles," Ryan said. "This is a man who has the courage of his convictions."
Ryan recalled working on a budget plan in 2007 to address the high deficits created during the Bush administration. He said only eight people supported the plan, one of whom was Pence.
"He was one of those people who was willing to put his neck on the line and fight for what it actually takes to balance the budget and pay off the debt," Ryan said.
"We have here a very good leader, a willing conservative, a knowledgeable conservative, a real Reagan-like happy warrior, joining this ticket," Ryan said. "I am really excited to see him join this ticket."
Ryan closed his speech by declaring that the Green Bay Packers would see the Pittsburgh Steelers in next year's Super Bowl, again posing for pictures with his Terrible Towel.