The Best-Chance Candidate

OK. I admit it. I cannot believe that Mitt Romney can win the Republican nomination for president. I have called him the Eddie Haskell of the 2008 race. But I keep talking to Republicans, relatives in Massachusetts and insiders here in Washington — and they keep telling me that I have it all wrong.

Remember the movie “The Candidate” with Robert Redford? I keep hearing that Romney has that smooth demeanor, that ability to be all things to all people, and he can talk his way out of anything. And, most important, he looks like a winner, sounds like a winner, and appeals to those Republicans who can’t believe the others have a remote chance of achieving victory in the general election.
He talks the conservative talk even though he hasn’t, in the past, walked the walk. But then, of course, he has been governor of Massachusetts. If he can win there he can, as a Republican, win anywhere. So goes the argument.

The Mormon attacks will not work. He will gain the sympathy of many religious voters, even though he may lose some of the hard core.

But the big issue for Republican voters is winning, and they don’t feel they have any other candidate who fits the bill. Thompson is the next flavor of the month, but odds are he will fade — most think he doesn’t have it — and the more you hear him, the less you like him. Witness his speeches in Orange County and across the country in the last 30 days.

Romney has changed his position on nearly every major issue, as many of us have pointed out. Immigration, abortion, gay rights, gun control, healthcare — you name it, he has flipped. He, like Redford in “The Candidate,” doesn’t appear to believe in much of anything.

Thus the tragedy. Conservatives and many moderate Republicans feel betrayed by Bush. He has abandoned principle for politics. He has traded away eight years of Republican domination and tossed aside Reagan values. He has been a terrible president.

So why is it that many of these people who are so angry at Bush are ready to embrace Romney? Will they stick with him even if they conclude that he doesn’t really believe in much and is willing to bend with the winds?

Years ago, I heard former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, who served a little time, describe Tip O’Neill as a great oak and himself as a palm tree that blew whichever way the wind blew. Tip had the deep roots; Rostenkowski was not nearly as well planted.

I wonder whether it makes any difference that Romney goes whichever way the wind blows in this race. With all the candidates flawed, will Republicans just think Romney is their best chance to keep the White House?