Hillary Rodham Romney

Like Clinton, Romney ran twice. Like Clinton, he established his political profile under a different set of circumstances than when he ran for president. He got his start as the modern, technocratic Republican, fixing the Olympics, delivering universal health insurance to Massachusetts, and projecting moderate sensibilities on many issues. But the dynamics of Republican presidential primaries forced him to swerve right, mix up his identity. He’s not Disraeli so the moves caused him trouble. The press mocked his “severely conservative” remark, his desire to “double Guantanamo” (a fantastic idea, by the way), and his support for the “self-deportation” of illegal immigrants. There had always been a false assuredness to Romney, the Eddie Haskell feeling that he was putting you on, trying a little too hard. The policy shifts played into this aura of inauthenticity, and by the time Eric Fehrnstrom was likening Romney to an Etch-a-Sketch, the battle to define the Republican nominee was close to lost. Super Pac ads over the summer and the 47 percent remark in September made things worse. No way Romney could connect.

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Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton are both wealthy, well-meaning overachievers who have a habit of saying things they come to regret. Charles Krauthammer says Hillary has “authentic inauthenticity,” which is a good way to sum up many people’s view of Romney. Clinton hasn’t had a good week of press in years. Her book launch was immediately sunk by controversies over her paid speeches and her remark that she and Bill were “dead broke” when they left the White House. She’s under investigation for her response to the Benghazi attack, for her private (and deleted) email server, and bestselling authors are picking through foreign donations to her family charity. Her response has been to go underground, leave the explaining to Bill—an effort he immediately sabotaged by telling NBC News he didn’t understand why people had their doubts about the foundation, and that he would keep making paid speeches because “I gotta pay our bills.”

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