Romney Can't Shake His Image

In his Washington Post column, Eugene Robinson says that nothing the candidate does will erase some of his worst political mistakes.

The problem for Mitt Romney, assuming he eventually wins the GOP nomination, is that a general-election campaign isn’t really like an Etch a Sketch. Alas, traces from the primaries linger.

The ghost image that remains will be of a strikingly uninspiring standard-bearer who deadened the Republican Party’s great passion into a sense of duty. Voters will discern the outlines of a candidate who spent the better part of a decade running for president without giving evidence of a core philosophy beyond his belief in Wall Street’s brand of capitalism.

It must be safe, by now, to predict that Romney wins the nomination. Right? I mean, yes, there’s a chance that Rick Santorum will stay in the race and somehow manage to keep Romney from wrapping things up before the convention. But even then, Romney would likely arrive in Tampa with such a big lead, and needing so few delegates to go over the top, that any challenge would be futile.

Read Eugene Robinson's entire column at the Washington Post.