Flap’s Links and Comments for May 11th on 19:08

These are my links for May 11th from 19:08 to 19:13:

• Mitch Daniels Passes the Cap and Trade Test – “Want to guess which potential Republican candidate looks ready to pass the pH test on [cap and trade]? Mitch Daniels. In early 2009, when the issue was ill-defined, he was already arguing against it. That’s a nice arrow in the quiver the next time he’s asked about the ‘social truce.'”=======

  And, everyone else?

• Mitt Romney: Do you remember the Hillary campaign? – But what if Republican voters in 2012, like Democrats in 2008, care more about the future than the past; what if they want new and not the next in line? Is a corporate candidate going to wow the populist Tea Partyers? That remains to be seen.And, of course, he still has some explaining to do about RomneyCare. He’ll give a speech tomorrow trying to defuse that issue. But it’s not simply one topic. It is, as abortion was in 2008, a symptom of a larger question about Romney: Does he have core political beliefs? Republicans have no doubt that Mitch Daniels is a penny-pincher and Newt Gingrich is a passionate defender of American exceptionalism and a robust foreign policy. But the passion that Republican voters are looking for is not a defining feature of Romney’s political persona. The very qualities that make him attractive to Wall Street financial types may not resonate in the heartland.

  Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are the ultimate “A” students — prepared, diligent and eager to please. But if it’s true that “C” students hire “A” students it may be that Romney (as Hillary did) is more likely to show up in a Republican Cabinet than in the White House.

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  Read it all.

  Agree.

  Mitt will make a good Secretary of Commerce.

• Mitt Romney = Obama’s Running Mate – Mitt Romney travels to Ann Arbor today to deliver what his campaign bills as a major address laying out his “2012 principles for health-care reform.” These are likely to be sensible, but what we’ll be listening for is how he explains his health-care principles of five years ago.As everyone knows, the health reform Mr. Romney passed in 2006 as Massachusetts Governor was the prototype for President Obama’s version and gave national health care a huge political boost. Mr. Romney now claims ObamaCare should be repealed, but his failure to explain his own role or admit any errors suggests serious flaws both in his candidacy and as a potential President.

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  There’s a lot to learn from the failure of the ObamaCare model that began in Massachusetts, which is now moving to impose price controls on all hospitals, doctors and other providers. Not that anyone would know listening to Mr. Romney. In the paperback edition of his campaign book “No Apology,” he calls the plan a “success,” and he has defended it in numerous media appearances as he plans his White House run.

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  Read it all.

  Mitt Romney is a flawed candidate and will not be the GOP nominee for President in 2012.