Romney is a conservative by any reasonable definition of the word. It’s just that he has a habit of taking objective reality and the views of his constituents into account.
When he was running one of the nation’s most liberal states, he governed as if he were pro-choice. When he looked for Republican-endorsed ideas to expand health-insurance coverage, he settled on the universal mandate that lies at the heart of, groan, Obamneycare. When the nation was on the precipice of a new Great Depression in 2009, he supported an economic stimulus package but differed with the one that Obama and the Democrats enacted.
Romney believes in science and therefore accepts that human activity is contributing to climate change. He said in 2007 that he supported cap-and-trade energy policy “on a global basis,” but not for the United States alone. He was for comprehensive immigration reform until his campaign four years ago, when he became a hard-liner, but now he seems to be trying to edge back toward reality on the issue.
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