Put differently, the problem for Romney’s prospects is that it is not (yet) clear how electing him would help anything. Conservatives feel betrayed by Republican leaders. It was George W. Bush, after all, who nominated Roberts to be Chief Justice. The left–Obama included–howled in protest, but in the end Roberts was “turned by the pressure of the media and the whims of vanity,” to quote the Wall Street Journal’s editorial today…

That sort of disappointment tends to be demoralizing. And it is not clear that Romney could follow through on his promise to repeal Obamacare on his first day in office, nor is it clear–especially after yesterday–that any of his Supreme Court nominees could be counted upon. If the decision in Obamacare is the problem, it is not clear that voting for Romney is the solution, even though a second Obama term would be a total disaster.

The long-run victory, if there is one, is for the kind of rock-solid, unapologetic brand of conservatism that leaders like Sarah Palin represent–and which the mainstream media has all but excluded from our political discourse. Whether that kind of politics–the kind that produced Ronald Reagan in 1980–can re-emerge before Americans succumb to the temptations of life in entitlement captivity is an open question, and not a happy one.