Is Mitt Romney Bipolar?

In “The ‘Moderate Mitt’ Myth,” this Saturday’s New York Times gleefully deconstructed Mitt Romney. The editorial page of The Times, usually more sober, really went after the Republican candidate, at a time when he is presenting to voters — with three weeks until the election — yet another new face. “The way a presidential candidate campaigns for office matters to the country,” writes The Times. “A campaign should demonstrate seriousness of purpose and a set of core beliefs, and it should signal to voters whether a candidate shows trustworthiness and judgment. Those things don’t seem to matter to Mitt Romney.”

Given that over the past ten days political commentators seem to have forgotten not only Romney’s inconsistent behavior, but also his ideological flip-flops to win over the most extremist part of the GOP base, it was good to hear the leading American newspaper recall who Mitt Romney really is.

Since the beginning of his campaign, Romney has been an extraordinary contortionist who should, if he fails to reach the White House, announce his candidacy for the Beijing Circus, which would surely be happy to hire such an artist. Or perhaps he should put on a one-man quick-change show: Romney can be the sympathetic, centrist character when faced with an auditorium full of a mix of liberal and conservative Americans. The one who defined himself in the primaries as “severely conservative” can show his contempt for a good half of the citizens when addressing those who fill the campaign coffers. Is Romney bipolar?

As The New York Times notes, the best moment to judge a candidate is during the primaries, and not with several weeks to go until the election, when the candidate is ready to say anything to please his audience. During the primaries, it was a totally different Romney who presented himself to voters. Still, the positions he held in the beginning remain the ones he holds today, even if he tries to hide it. For example, during a recent debate in Iowa, Romney affirmed that “[t]here’s no legislation with regards to abortion … that would become part of my agenda.” Yet he carefully avoids saying that he promised to make abortion nearly impossible by eliminating federally-allocated funds for Planned Parenthood. He has also declared that he would choose Supreme Court justices hostile to the case that made elective abortion legal — Roe v. Wade.

Romney has presented himself, since the first debate, like a politician capable of working with Democrats, but his entire track record as governor of Massachusetts proves the contrary: He had nothing but contempt for the party with which he had to govern that state. The Times summarizes the situation very well: “Anyone willing to advocate extremism to raise money and win primaries is likely to do the same to stay in office.”