Mitt Romney won’t explain to the American people what he would do if he were elected president.
Odd though that may sound—especially considering that presidential campaigns are designed specifically to inform voters of such plans—the strategy actually aligns quite well with Romney’s “emotion-free crisis management” style.
Romney isn’t the most likeable candidate to run for the presidency, and his campaign’s intention to swap out the conservative talking points for the more moderate middle ground rhetoric once the general election begins, as his chief campaign advisor forewarned, isn’t likely to boost his popularity among the GOP base. So in order to alleviate the nation’s continued ambivalence toward Mr. Etch-a-Sketch, Romney has announced a plan to…not announce his plans. The thinking behind this, I believe, is that if nobody knows what he’d do as president, he might have a chance of becoming one!
Jonathan Chait of New York magazine has the story:
