There are two problems here. First, he’s giving the game away way too early. Of course Romney is going to try to reposition himself toward the center. But he’s in the process of convincing conservatives he’s really with them. Fred Barnes, in a column praising Romney, writes today, “His plan was to run as a moderate but govern (I think) as a conservative. He’s abandoned the moderate mask and positioned himself firmly in the conservative camp.” That was the plan – persuade conservatives that they’re in on the con. Now Romney will give them grounds to wonder if they’re the suckers. It’s okay to do that after you’ve sewn up the nomination, but not while conservatives can still make your life difficult.

The problem here is that, for the process to play itself out the way political scientists would forecast, you need to conceal the calculations a bit. For instance, you obviously can believe that your need to win elected office would make you more reluctant to hire illegal aliens, but you shouldn’t just say that. And obviously you’re going to reposition yourself for a different audience, but that works a lot better if you pretend you’re advancing actual core beliefs.

It’s actually pretty shocking that they’d be so direct about this, to the point of blurting it out this way. It’s very reminiscent of Bob Dole, actually. But ultimately let’s remember that Mitt Romney isn’t all that good of a politician. He does what he thinks he needs to do to win elections, but as we’ve heard a million times, he’s a datahead who is more turned on by the challenges of data analysis and public policy than delivering red meat or making penetrating critiques. He’s a poor speaker who comes off as stiff in public. And he’s more than willing to sell out his base if it helps him politically. Wait, something just occurred to me: are we sure he’s not actually a moderate Democrat who is just confused about which party he belongs to?