Romney Will Not Govern As A Moderate
By Jamelle Bouie is definitive:
Romney is running for president as a right-wing Republican with right-wing ideas, and it is absurd to think that he would suddenly revert to the Mitt who governed Massachusetts. Even if he wanted to, he would first have to contend with a conservative movement that sees itself as the dominant partner in this relationship. “If the Republicans take the Senate, I definitely think you’ll see Romney have to follow what the House and Senate are doing,” says Brendan Steinhauser, director of federal and state campaigns for FreedomWorks, one of the largest organizations in the Tea Party orbit. “Our goal is to drive that, so that we have more conservatives in the Senate, and we’re setting the agenda.”
If conservatives expect to set the agenda—and if Romney, as president, wants to maintain their support—then he can’t govern from the center. Nor does he plan to.
Which would mean 1)a massive upward redistribution of wealth combined with 2)huge deficits and lower marginal tax rates that would further constrain future governments. And Jamelle doesn’t talk about a lot of other important factors, such as the Supreme Court, an NLRB that refuses to enforce labor law, etc.