Mitt Romney Wants More Than He Can Get

Mitt Romney already sees himself as President Obama’s successor. And yet not even a majority of his party stands behind him.

In reality, the U.S. presidential primary is already decided. In reality, Rick Santorum should now admit his defeat to Mitt Romney and promise his support to Romney in the fight against Barack Obama.* In reality, the Republican Party — from tea party followers to moderates — should now stand conclusively behind their frontrunner, who hopes to win back the White House this fall. That’s how it would be in normal times; that’s how it always used to be.

And yet this time it won’t be that way. The party is so fractious that none of the candidates want to concede. Even without the slightest chance of victory (Ron Paul), even without money (Newt Gingrich), even at the risk of splitting his own party (Rick Santorum). Despite the inevitability of his nomination, Mitt Romney has so far failed to convince the majority of Republicans.

This will become even more difficult in the campaign against Obama. At the moment, Romney has positioned himself relatively far to the right on nearly every subject, from abortion to immigration, taxes, economic regulation — all the way to the rights of the Federal government. With such positions, however, he’ll have no chance of victory in the fall. For that he’ll also need the independent, moderate voters. So he will soon soften his positions, and certainly formulate more cautious ones — and thus confirm the fears of skeptics who see him as an unprincipled flip-flopper. Obama’s team will need only to review the videos of Romney’s opponents from the primary, harping time and again on his changeable views.

Barack Obama, for his part, seems determined to attack Romney with a liberal agenda. In a recent speech, he did just that. In it he reproached Republican social Darwinism and declared the vote in November a choice of direction for Americans.

In a surprisingly plain manner, Obama has made a subject of social justice and taken a clear position in political discourse. With that, Romney is under pressure from all sides. He can only hope that the economy collapses, and he can convince voters with his economic expertise. In reality, he has no chance of winning the election, in normal times anyway. And yet…

*Editor’s Note: Rick Santorum dropped out of the race on April 10, 2012.