How Would Romney Govern?

Ezra Klein examines his ideological flexibility:

At this point, neither voters nor Romney have sufficient data to know how he would govern. With a Republican Congress, he would govern from the right. With a Democratic Congress, he would move to the center. If he faces a divided Congress, he will look for compromise to get "the best possible thing done." Without knowing the composition of Congress, we can’t know the kind of president Romney would be. We know he can manage, but we don’t know which company he will be managing.

Along the same lines, because he expects a Democratic Senate and GOP House, Justin Green endorses Romney:

The Affordable Care Act will need trimming and reform. Without a legislative majority in the Senate, the ACA will live. It's as simple as that. There will be no reconciliation to destroy it. In fact, I'd suggest that Harry Reid might be interested in cleaning it up if improving the law helps protect his vulnerable members in 2014. GOP governors also lose their straw man if a Republican is president, and this would have substantial impact on seeing the ACA to fruition. Having a real opportunity to get the statewide exchanges fully implemented, working on ways to ease the pain of what look to be substantial cuts to Medicaid in red states, and continuing to push for broader market reforms to improve the ACA are important goals — and they stand a better chance under Romney than Obama.

That's close to David Frum's argument. It's full of so many hypotheticals, it is at this point, it seems to me, premature. But there is an implicit danger in this line of thinking. It rewards pure partisan obstructionism in the past – the GOP's refusal to work on reforming the ACA because it was signed by Obama – and uses that as a reason to vote for … the currently dissembling Republican. So the basis for backing a liar is the greater cynicism and fanaticism of the GOP. I guess you could make a utilitarian case for this. But the long-term consequences for basic accountability, honesty and civil politics are dire.