JONATHAN CHAIT MAY 12, 2011
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
The Wall Street Journal editorial page twists the knife:
More immediately for his Republican candidacy, the debate over ObamaCare and the larger entitlement state may be the central question of the 2012 election. On that question, Mr. Romney is compromised and not credible. If he does not change his message, he might as well try to knock off Joe Biden and get on the Obama ticket.
Now, John McCain also had party orthodoxy problems on taxes, immigration, and other issues in 2008. But he resolved those by ditching all his unorthodox positions, a luxury he had because the national press corps that decided he was a principles maverick who would never act out of political expediency.
Romney doesn't have that luxury. Indeed, his second-largest problem is a reputation as a pure phony -- incurred the last time around in his transition from blue state moderate to acceptable conservative circa 2008 -- he has obviously decided that a McCain-like flip-flop would be deadly. So he has nowhere to go.
4 comments
I think Mr Chait basically has it correct here. Mitt Romney has shifted on so many issues that it has become his signature. That's not good and so to counter-act that weakness he's decided to dig in his heels and defend his only significant achievement in public office. However, in true Romney fashion, it will be a phony defense since he will surely attempt to deny that he's defending what he did -- create an individual mandate for healthcare in one state with the belief that doing so in every other state would be a very good idea. Romney can expect some sympathy from the Beltway chattering class since most of them seem to regard him as a moderate Republican who doesn't hold strong views on anything -- precisely the sort of person they believe should always be running the country. But they're not going to help him out with his authenticity issues -- he's damaged himself too much for that. The Punditocracy was willing to pretend John McCain was a maverick instead of an unprincipled chameleon, but they don't have the affection for Romney they did/do for McCain. If Mitt Romney wins the nomination it will be evidence more of the complete weakness of the field rather than his own strength as a candidate.
- DC Spence
May 12, 2011 at 8:54am
I love the picture Chait keeps showing of Romney signing his health care bill. It reminds me, quite aptly, of the "laughing scene" in The Hudsucker Proxy.
- aaronsama
May 12, 2011 at 10:25am
To their great chagrin, I am sure, the WSJ editorial page will not decide the 2012 nominee, the primary and caucus electorates will. I keep making this point here. And I think I have caught you out in a contradiction, J. You are constantly writing about how unacceptable Mitt Romney is to the Norqustians and other elites in the Republican Party and simultaneously, you will post on the irrationality of huge slabs of voters. But it is these same benighted voters who will choose the nominee, not Stephen Moore, not Pat Toomey, not Grover Norquist.
- liberalref
May 12, 2011 at 12:41pm
In order for healthcare to be what blocks Romney from winning the nomination, there needs to be another candidate that can both beat Romney and doesn't have a similar healthcare problem. By that logic, Gingrich now seems to be out of the running. http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/05/12/gingrichs_health_care_problem.html Not that he had a chance anyway. But I'll bet a lot of other Republicans have quotes somewhere in their past supportive of an individual mandate. Unless they just entered politics in the past few years. So Herman Cain is probably safe.
- tysonsahib
May 12, 2011 at 3:04pm