Romney: The move to the center

last updated 8 January 2015

The real Mitt Romney has “finally emerged from the fog,” said David Brooks in The New York Times. In his triumphant performance in last week’s presidential debate, Moderate Mitt showed he’s not the “soulless ideologue” of Democratic propaganda, and offered “a more authentic version of himself.” Romney vowed that the rich would get no net tax cut under his budget, and “focused relentlessly on job creation for the middle class.” Presidential and poised, Romney spoke comfortably about conservative compassion: “We’re a nation that believes we are all children of the same God,” he said, and we care for the elderly and the sick. In 90 minutes, Romney undid millions of dollars’ worth of negative ads that painted him as “a rapacious vulture capitalist who doesn’t just lay off steelworkers but kills their wives,” said Charles Krauthammer in The Washington Post. The Democrats’ “kill Romney” strategy worked brilliantly until Americans got to see the candidate with their own eyes.

What they saw was the long-awaited Etch A Sketch moment, said Doyle McManus in the Los Angeles Times. The “severely conservative” candidate of the primary season pivoted toward the middle—and in the process, disavowed nearly every position he took to win the Republican nomination. He no longer seeks tax cuts to put more money in the pockets of “job creators”—now he promises that the rich will get no reduction in total taxes paid. He would repeal Obama-care, but keep its most popular provisions. If I had just tuned in to this campaign, I’d think this Romney fellow has a “detailed tax plan, wants to defend the middle class and poor, and will take care of people who can’t find health insurance,” said Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic.In reality, his tax plan “would devastate the middle class and particularly the poor,” and he’d abandon those without health insurance or who have pre-existing conditions.

So which is the real Mitt? asked Ezra Klein in WashingtonPost.com.“The Romney who talks movingly of bipartisan compromise?” Or the primary candidate who vowed not to accept $1 in tax increases for $10 in spending cuts, and vowed to cut $7 trillion in spending? If Romney wins the election and has to cut deals with a Democratic-controlled Senate, he’ll revert to his “Massachusetts moderate” self. But if Republicans win both houses and demand ideological orthodoxy, Romney will become “severely conservative” again.