A lot has been written about Mitt Romney’s flip flopping on important philosophical and public policy issues, but does he have a greater problem with the GOP electorate? Perhaps Romney appears too smart, as in the intellectual variety.
You don’t have to be Bill Maher (he calls the GOP the “stupid party”) to acknowledge that during the last dozen years or so the party has not rewarded intellectualism. George W. Bush in 2000 liked to convey the idea that he was so unworldly that he’d never left the country (even though he had.)
In 2004, Republicans went so far as to mock John Kerry for the outrageous sin of knowing how to speak French (if you think I’m joking, here is the ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDq8bEjhs7Q.)
Final Prediction: Romney will be attacked more and more for a variety of ideological sins, but the subtext will always be that Romney is just too smart and too much like Obama. And this will mean that Gingrich or some other Republican will get the nomination.