More concerning are the questions that have been raised about Walker’s failure to surround himself with high-quality personnel. Eliana Johnson of National Review reported back in March that the Wisconsin governor relies primarily on his own political judgment when making decisions, and that this self-reliance was undermining his embryonic presidential campaign. She pointed to botched hires and awkward flip-flops on a number of hotly debated policy questions, from the legal status of unauthorized immigrants to ethanol mandates, as indications that he was not quite ready for prime time. Jonathan Martin, writing for the New York Times, offered a similar assessment earlier this month, adding that Walker’s tendency to “think like an operative” might make him seem opportunistic and unprincipled.

All of this rings true to me. Walker has seemed oddly unmoored in his first few months on the campaign trail. The contrast between the Walker who refused to back down on limiting collective-bargaining rights, despite ferocious opposition from organized labor in Wisconsin and around the country, and the Walker who struggles to give a straight answer on issues like immigration and taxes out of fear of offending this or that GOP microconstituency is discouraging. One charitable explanation is that Walker simply hasn’t thought through his position on national issues. Just a few years ago, Walker was the executive of Milwaukee County, a role in which he didn’t have to have detailed positions on what to do about Social Security or ISIS or the fallout from Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. Unfortunately for Walker, that’s not going to be much of an excuse a month or two from now, when he’ll be subjected to scrutiny far more intense than anything he’s faced so far.

My fear is that instead of thinking through the most important policy questions facing the next president for himself, and offering a serious and substantive reform agenda, Walker will simply tell the most vocal pressure groups within the Republican coalition what they want to hear.