Markets won’t fix economy, Romney

argument Romney wants to make.

Romney’s philosophical inclinations give the president ample room to speak to nonideological, nonutopian voters, the 10 percent or 15 percent who will decide this election.

They may not like government very much, but they are also wary about what capitalism does when the watchdogs fall asleep.

They don’t cotton to further tax cuts for the wealthy.

They reject the idea that worrying about how unequal the rewards in our society have become is the same thing as being “envious” of those who have done well.

They are fully onboard that opportunity and not “entitlement” is the American way.

But they rather welcome the help — low-interest student loans, for example — that government can offer to those looking to rise and prosper.

That’s why Romney’s shift to Obama’s side in the president’s battle with House Republicans over student loans may be his most instructive flip-flop yet.

It shows that Romney will do all he can to soften his underlying radicalism.

His goal is to deprive Obama of ways to reveal the concrete impact of free-market utopianism — and the price of the cutbacks Romney embraced by endorsing Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget.

What Romney has going for him is a journalistic presumption that he is either a closet “moderate” or so opportunistic that he is altogether lacking in a coherent worldview. The first is wrong. The second is unfair to Romney.

What he believes matters, and it is the biggest obstacle between him and the White House.