The Economist Warns That “A Businessman Without A Credible Plan to Fix A Problem Stops Being A Credible Businessman”

Mitt Romney just can’t find conservatives to like him. Sure, most current American conservatives will vote for him because they absolutely will not consider anyone who doesn’t hold a number of views which are totally bat-shit crazy, but they would prefer that he wasn’t on the top of this ticket. Even more sane conservatives, such as those at The Economist, are wary of Romney. The pointed out that “All politicians flip-flop from time to time; but Mr Romney could win an Olympic medal in it (see article). They warn that

…competence is worthless without direction and, frankly, character. Would that Candidate Romney had indeed presented himself as a solid chief executive who got things done. Instead he has appeared as a fawning PR man, apparently willing to do or say just about anything to get elected. In some areas, notably social policy and foreign affairs, the result is that he is now committed to needlessly extreme or dangerous courses that he may not actually believe in but will find hard to drop; in others, especially to do with the economy, the lack of details means that some attractive-sounding headline policies prove meaningless (and possibly dangerous) on closer inspection. Behind all this sits the worrying idea of a man who does not really know his own mind. America won’t vote for that man; nor would this newspaper.

After looking at the problems with Romney’s policies, they conclusion remains the same:

A businessman without a credible plan to fix a problem stops being a credible businessman. So does a businessman who tells you one thing at breakfast and the opposite at supper. Indeed, all this underlines the main doubt: nobody knows who this strange man really is. It is half a decade since he ran something. Why won’t he talk about his business career openly? Why has he been so reluctant to disclose his tax returns? How can a leader change tack so often? Where does he really want to take the world’s most powerful country?