Should Romney even bother trying to win over wary conservatives?

Jonathan Tobin argues in a column at Commentary.com that the answer is no.

Romney’s strengths are obvious and impressive. He is someone with a deep understanding of economic issues and vast executive experience in both the public and private sectors. He can also put forward credible conservative positions on foreign policy and has come to embrace stands that satisfy the right on social issues. Though he is rightly accused of having flip-flopped on some issues, he is also a person who has lived an exemplary life and embodies the values of morality, decency and hard work.

But he is not a man who can fire up the base with his ability to articulate conservative ideas or the resentment that so many on the right feel about the liberal establishment, the media or popular culture. That’s Newt Gingrich’s territory. Nor is he a fervent social conservative in the manner of Santorum. He is a technocratic problem solver who can read the lyrics from the conservative hymnal but is no better at singing its melody than he is at finding the correct tune to “America the Beautiful.”

Romney’s inability to connect with ordinary voters or conservatives can’t be fixed. The only real passion in his political portfolio comes out when he discusses economic ideas or when he tries to articulate his belief in American exceptionalism that is at the heart of his life’s work in politics, business and his church. And it is to those virtues that he must cling. Given his opponents’ liabilities and political weaknesses, this ought to be good enough to win him the GOP nomination, even if it turns out to be less of the cakewalk that seemed likely only a few days ago.

Should Romney try to change his approach in order to keep up with Santorum’s passion or should he allow his advisers to convince him to go negative on the Pennsylvanian the way he took down Gingrich, it will not help him.

Of course, there are some on this forum who would like to see the Republican nomination decided in a battle of competing philosophies — a battle which has no room for Romney.