The latest new Mitt Romney

I applaud Mitt Romney for two things. First, he was one of the finest liberal governors in the modern history of Massachusetts. For this he deserves credit. Second, Romney enacted the first version of ObamaCare, which in Massachusetts was called RomneyCare. Good. Health reform is important. Then-Gov. Romney and President Obama shared a common adviser, M.I.T. Professor Jonathan Gruber, made famous by his comment that voters are stupid. Obama and Romney share credit for healthcare reform, as they shared the common adviser Gruber. So be it.

The conservative Romney who ran for president essentially denounced the liberal Romney that governed Massachusetts, and both stood in contrast to Mitt’s father, George Romney, who was a principled rock-solid moderate liberal Republican governor of Michigan who never equivocated. This new Mitt Romney who ran for the Republican nomination did not claim credit for inventing ObamaCare with RomneyCare, though it would have been a fair claim. He gave a private speech — or what he thought was a private speech but was actually a taped speech — in which he expressed contempt for 47 percent of the nation, whom he seemed to accuse of being leeches at the public trough. Then, when the tape of his famous speech became public, Romney claimed Romney didn’t mean what Romney actually said.

And now comes the next new Romney, who wants to address chronic poverty. Good. If he makes an honest effort, I will give him honest credit. I hope he does. But so far, where’s the beef? Romney must offer plans. He cannot simply say to the poor, whose cause he has suddenly discovered, “let them eat soundbites,” as Marie Antoinette, whom I once compared an earlier Romney to, said “let them eat cake.”

Meanwhile, the new Romney reverts to the low blow, like the earlier Romney, when he suggests that Hillary Clinton is out of touch. Perhaps Romney thought of this line while waiting at the top floor of one of his mansions while one of his limousines took the elevator specially made for them.

My advice to Romney: decide what you stand for and then tell us your proposals. Until then, let’s keep the various new Romneys in the garage.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.