Romney’s Charade

Willard Mitt Romney finally made it. With a victory in the important Texas primary election, the 65-year-old candidate has become the Republican choice for the presidency. The former Massachusetts governor must still dutifully go on his appointed rounds — seven states have yet to hold their primary elections — until he can officially be named Barack Obama’s opponent in the end of August. It had been certain for weeks that the avowed Mormon would be the party’s candidate. His most serious competitors, Newt Gingrich (“the conservative”) and Rick Santorum (“the arch conservative”), were able to briefly slow the advance of the super-rich’s favorite, but Romney prevailed — an outcome that is as much due to the slack nature of his opponents as to any other factor.

But Romney’s camp still can’t afford to take a breather, even now that the drawn-out campaign is over. The former investment banker must now rally traditional Republican voters to support him. The party’s arch-conservative wing still considers him to be somewhat of a flip-flopper, despite his untarnished record as a faithful husband and father of five. In order to win in November, he must first win the support of the undecided voters. Romney will go on the offensive, attacking Obama on the slow pace of the economic recovery and the high unemployment rate. He can now abandon his charade of being a true conservative and finally be himself: a tough-as-nails entrepreneur who wants to put an end to the nation’s misery.