Romney wants to "sneak into the White House all but unexamined by voters"

Michael Tomasky on Mitt Romney’s Naïve Evasion Strategy

From his tax returns to his slippery policy proposals, Romney is doing everything he can to fend off serious scrutiny. Can a master of prevarication make it into the White House?

I’ve been pounding away at Mitt Romney’s lack of spine on the basis of his unprecedented reversals of position. We have never in modern American history had a presidential nominee who, as he ascended from the state to the national level, changed so many positions so shamelessly. But that’s not the only manifestation of his weakness. Take the three issues of his lack of specificity about the policies he supports, his inaccessibility to the press, and his refusal to release his tax returns. These highlight another aspect of the problem, one that’s no less telling and serious: His desire to sneak into the White House all but unexamined by voters.

Even Bill Kristol has complained that Romney is on “autopilot” and is not laying out a serious and clear vision. Romney hasn’t said what tax loopholes he’ll close or what federal programs he’ll slash. He then tries to argue that to do so would be foolish, like a football coach posting his playbook online (my metaphor, not his, but it’s the essence of what he says).

The problem goes beyond lists of loopholes or programs to the elements that constitute what we usually call a politician’s vision. What he’s going to do to fuel manufacturing, to spur innovation, to improve education; what he sees as the two or three main economic priorities for the next decade; where he will shift and direct federal resources; we know none of this. It may all exist on his web site in small and bromidic doses, but mostly what he says on the stump is that that Obama fellow is an awful anti-capitalist and I, Romney, will unleash the power of the free market and trust me, everything will light up guns-ablazing.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/02/michael-tomasky-on-mitt-romney-s-na-ve-evasion-strategy.html