If any doubt remained that the conservative establishment is fast making its peace with John McCain, in anticipation of his locking up the Republican nomination on Tuesday, today's lead Wall Street Journal editorial should further extinguish it. The Journal Editorial Board--which remains as probable an ally as businessman Mitt Romney will find in his dwindling presidential bid--effectively threw the Massachusetts governor under the bus this morning, in a devastating and lengthy critique. The editorial focused like a laser beam on what has always been Romney's greatest weakness: his seeming lack of any core conviction, and bizarre transmogrification from liberal Northeastern governor to right-wing, nativist presidential candidate.
A major theme of his candidacy is that he'll bring that business model to a "broken" Washington, apply it to Congress and the bureaucracy, and thus triumph over gridlock and the status quo. To which we'd say: Good luck with that. Washington's problem isn't a lack of data, or a failure to calibrate the incentives as in the business world. Congress and the multiple layers of government respond exactly as you'd expect given the incentives for self-preservation and turf protection that always exist in political institutions. The only way to overcome them is with leadership on behalf of good ideas backed by public support. The fact that someone as bright as Mr. Romney doesn't recognize this Beltway reality risks a Presidency that would get rolled quicker than you can say Jimmy Carter. All the more so because we haven't been able to discern from his campaign, or his record in Massachusetts, what his core political principles are. Mr. Romney spent his life as a moderate Republican, and he governed the Bay State that way after his election in 2002. While running this year, however, he has reinvented himself as a conservative from radio talk show-casting, especially on immigration.
Dean Barnett comments on the Journal editorial here.