Does Mitt Romney Have A Problem With Telling The Truth-- Or Can A Good Etch-A-Sketch Wipe That Away Too?

Lobbyists, Wall Street predators, financial speculators, Mormons ecstatic about the idea of seizing the government... these are the people who have filled Romney's war chest with tens of millions of dollars. So when Frank Rich, asked this week, why no one is celebrating that Romney clinched the GOP nomination... he probably wasn't counting the 1% (and the Mormons); they're celebrating. Now, if you're talking about the 99%, Rich was correct:

[H]e excites no one and there’s a sinking sense in his party that if the economy continues to improve (and even Romney is now saying it is), it has a candidate who is both pure wood and bereft of a message. Even the loyal Republican Bill Kristol said of last night's victory speech that it “consisted basically of the claim that the business of America is business” and that “he’s a businessman who understands business.” Not only is that an empty and increasingly dated pitch, but it also reveals that Romney somehow thinks he’s survived the attacks on his Bain career when in reality they have only just begun and he’s never figured out how to counter them.

Always good to remember that this is still out there-- thanks to Sheldon Adelson's millions-- will have plenty of time to percolate into the national consciousness and will probably have a different, more profound, impact on independents and Democrats than it has on Republicans:



But the fact remains, Romney is probably the least popular GOP nominee in our lifetimes. It's clear that not many people are warming up to him-- in fact far more people dislike him now than they did when Republican primary season began-- but pundits are just starting to ask why. Andrew Romano points out that to win in November, rather than against pathetic clowns like Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Santorum and Rick Perry, Willard "would have to make history by overcoming a larger favorability deficit than any other modern presidential candidate... To win in November, Romney will have to make history. Not by being one of the wealthiest men elected president, or even the first Mormon, but by changing more minds that are more deeply set against him than any other nominee in recent memory. If he can’t convince the unprecedented number of voters who have already decided they don’t like him that, actually, they do, he will be heading back to Massachusetts-- or New Hampshire, or California, or Utah-- come November 6.

It’s no secret that this year’s Republican primary contest has hurt the former Massachusetts governor. What was supposed to be a rather orderly march to the nomination has steadily morphed into a degenerative, Sisyphean slog, thanks to the vagaries of delegate math and the GOP’s curious lack of enthusiasm for Mormon moderates from Massachusetts. George Will, for one, has grown so despondent that he is already advising conservatives to give up on the presidency and focus on Congress instead.

And at the same time Jonathan Chait was asking in New York Why does America hate Mitt Romney? And answering.

Why is an essentially bland, scandal-free figure so unpopular?

The main reason, I suspect, is that the Republican Party is extremely unpopular. The Bush years deeply discredited the GOP, and while Republicans were able to make gains in 2010 by default, as the out party during an economic crisis, they did nothing to rehabilitate their image. Indeed, they have embraced even more unpopular positions than the ones that George W. Bush advocated. Romney has taken up the banner of cutting Medicare in order to make room for lower taxes for the rich, and that’s an incredibly unpopular trade-off.

What else? Romney has come to be defined by his wealth to some degree. This is not a problem if you’re able to pass yourself off as a rich guy looking out for the little guy, and Romney has tried to pass himself off this way. But it’s very hard to pull off given his actual policies. Romney has made his shorthand identification “I’m a conservative businessman.” That’s not a great sell for a Republican, except among hard-core Republicans (and, really, affluent Republicans, which is Romney’s base.)

Women sure aren't buying into him, at least not according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll, which found Obama leading him 55-38%. And even a right-wing kook like Santorum is now telling Republican audiences that they might as well stick with Obama if Romney gets their party's nomination! "You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who's just going to be a little different than the person in there. If you're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future." An analysis by a gaggle of NBC pundits wonders aloud why no one gives Willard the benefit of the doubt.

Every gaffe becomes a story; every mistake become fodder for late-night comedians. And more importantly, this is what happens when you don’t have a solid base of support that can serve as a cocoon of protection during the toughest of times. Successful presidential candidates (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama) had grassroots supporters rushing to their defense, even in the toughest of political times. Romney-- right now-- doesn’t have this. In fact, it was notable during yesterday’s “Etch A Sketch” controversy that we didn’t see many prominent conservatives railing against media bias or unfairness. Instead, they were either standing on the sidelines or piling on. And that’s a problem for Romney.

Maybe people would like him more if he stopped lying every time he opens his mouth-- although a habit like that is hard to break and every indication shows he's been doing that his entire life.