Bloomberg's Ramesh Ponnuru says Republicans should stop pining for Mitt Romney to run in 2016.
Ponnuru says he understands the yearning for another Romney run – mainly because there are no clear frontrunners in the GOP field so far. But he argues the GOP will vying to win back a White House that has been in Democratic hands for 8 years, and Republicans would be wise to put forward a candidate who offers new ideas.
Whatever the reasons for renewed interest in Romney, Republicans would be well advised to move on. That's not because Romney was a weak candidate in 2012. He ran ahead of Republican Senate candidates almost everywhere, and often by a substantial amount.
But he never seemed to grasp the reasons the Republican Party has performed poorly in recent years, chief among them the public's skepticism that Republican policies would do anything for most people. Romney seemed even to disdain the idea of showing that conservative ideas would yield tangible benefits for individuals.
