Romney and the GOP's Uphill Battle

Rick Santorum’s trifecta primary sweep last week proves that Mitt Romney faces a huge uphill battle in winning the Presidency.  Romney faces a multitude of problems that are holding him back in the polls.  As Charles P. Pierce of Esquire writes, the Romney of today no longer resembles the former Massachusetts governor:

Romney's description of his time as governor up here in the Commonwealth was hilarious to those of us who remember how hard he worked with a Democratic legislature to get his health-care law passed. It was hilarious to hear him talk about he was a "severely conservative governor," when we recalled how he worked with Sal DiMasi, the now-convicted Speaker of the Massachusetts House, to get Romneycare passed in time to be able to run on it in 2008. It was hilarious to hear him talk about how he presented balanced budgets up here (Pro tip: Like any Massachusetts governor, Willard had to do that — it's the law) and how he did it without raising taxes, especially to those of us who recall how swiftly the fees for almost everything went up.

Romney has positioned himself as the only candidate who has experience running things in the private and public sectors.  His experiences in business have already been torn down because of his propensity to cut jobs while at Bain Capital.  Now, he is largely unable to take credit for any of his successes as governor of Massachusetts, because his policies resembled those of a moderate (when compared to the rest of the Republican field, his governorship makes him look like a Democrat). 

An even bigger problem for Romney has been his inability to inspire any sort of enthusiasm from the electorate.  Republicans seem to widely regard him as their best, most qualified candidate.  However, he can’t seem to hide the fact that he’s really boring.  He’s not a bad speaker, but doesn’t give any rousing campaign speeches like Obama does.  He’s terrified of ruining his image in any way, so he doesn’t take any risks like Gingrich does.  And, as Pierce’s article notes, he doesn’t have the track record on social issues to go to bat with Santorum.

To get the nomination, it looks like Romney will have to go further from his track record and further to the right.  If Gingrich, Santorum, and Paul keep hanging around, the GOP will be in a very difficult position come election time.  Romney is beginning to look like the only sane person in the asylum.  The Republican Party needs to change quickly, or else they will have a negative stigma that will haunt them in the election.