Article on romney campaign: effect of the tea party base & pandering without core principles

[pampango]

Romney's ongoing problems - as most recently highlighted in the leaked fundraiser video - stem from the combustible combination of his inability to demonstrate concern for the burdens his plans impose on ordinary citizens, coupled with his failure to define a vision that could expand his market share beyond the extreme right. Let's break these two ideas down:

First, principled pandering is only possible when a candidate begins with core principles. All politicians pander, but in order to persuade enough voters that one has the ability to both govern and make policy in a country as diverse as ours, politicians must pander within reasonable limits. Every politician is tempted to indulge in moon-promising ... But unsustainable pandering backfires; candidates with coherent strategies learn that they must often "just say no" to maintain broad credibility. When conservative social activists demanded that Governor George W Bush pledge never to hire gays in his administration, he refused; when Governor Bill Clinton was pushed to rule out the possibility of tax increases, he refused as well.

Second, the GOP Tea Party base is pushing for policies that cannot be defended nationally by a presidential candidate. The Romney campaign wanted the election to be a referendum on Obama's record on jobs. Once the Tea Party tail started wagging the elephant, Romney pandered himself into a corner. Each time the Romney campaign has seemed ready to acknowledge a more centrist idea, the far right yelled and Romney blinked.

Even if Romney does win, a civil war among Republicans seems inevitable. Jeb Bush and Lindsay Graham have already moved away from the once-popular, absolutist no-taxes-ever pledges, and in every state with a sizeable Hispanic population (save Arizona) more centrist Republicans are pushing for sensible immigration reform. Suddenly, some Republican candidates in battleground states are trumpeting bipartisanship and compromise and distancing themselves from the more extreme positions of Romney and Ryan.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/ask-dr-popkin-can-the-romney-campaign-be-saved/262813/

[cali]

1. Popkin is quite astute.