I know a lot of Obama fans that would be appalled to hear this. Unlike any of his colleagues in the GOP Kandidate Klown Kar, Romney is electable. I have said it before, and I will continue to say it. An elected Romney would do less damage to this country than anyone else vying for (or flirting with vying for) the nomination.

Romney may have the charisma of styrofoam, the personality of a park bench, and a rapport with the peasants rivaled by that of the last kings of the Capetian Dynasty. He may represent both the end result of unearned wealth and the nonchalance of predatory capitalism. But mostly he has a more positive meaning to me. He is sane. I mean that literally. I may not have any credentials in mental health. I can say with as much certainty as it’s possible to have absent said credentials, though, that those of his vanquished rivals and would-be rivals that weren’t grifters (Palin, Cain, Gingrich, Trump) were certifiable. People still giggle about Romney’s handful of tone-deaf or downright dumb statements (google Romney dog roof). But how does that compare to Santorum’s disturbing story about his actions after a stillbirth? How does Romney’s slightly-quirkier-than-most religion compare to the gay-obsessed evangelical mission of Marcus Bachmann? How does he stack up to Rick Perry’s Mr. Rogers-on-goofballs performance in New Hampshire?

While Bush, Jr. lowered the Presidency’s intellectual bar to entry a bit, the entry of a literally crazy person would have essentially removed all bars altogether. We survived two Bush, Jr. terms. I would be interested to find if anyone disagrees with this premise: a Romney presidency would not be as bad for this country as the Bush, Jr. presidency was. To be honest, I’m not sure he would be much (perhaps even any) worse than the Obama presidency. Obama’s first reaction to any Republican challenge is to immediately capitulate on all but one or two mostly symbolic points. On the other hand, any principled stand made by Romney would actually raise his esteem in the world at large.