Obama’s most dishonest attack involved the New York Times headline on a Romney op-ed: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” Romney couldn’t forcefully defend himself from Obama’s misrepresentation, because in the op-ed Romney was calling for the same sort of bailout-with-managed-bankruptcy Obama ended up implementing.

Romney also couldn’t attack Obama’s individual insurance mandate or the special deals Obama cut with drugmakers to pass Obamacare, because Obamacare was largely modeled on Romneycare.

The 2016 GOP nominee can’t be a bailout-backer deployed from Wall Street and surrounded by K Street. He or she will need to be the scourge of special interests who can present free enterprise as the great leveler and show that government intervention tilts the playing field toward the big guys.

Winning the White House will require a war on cronyism, especially if Hillary Clinton is the nominee. The ethanol mandate, Obamacare’s insurance bailout, the Export-Import Bank, the sugar program, energy subsidies, Too Big to Fail — these all need to be in Republicans’ crosshairs. Traditionally, Romney favors programs like these.