this election is shaping up to be a referendum on Obama, not the merits or flaws of whoever the GOP nominates.
Obama's got a billion dollars to throw at this election, so maybe the narrative will change, but I imagine the core Republican line for the next 10 months is going to be "are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?" and most voters probably don't have the attention span to remember that we're facing issues that have been years in the making (that spread across multiple administrations from both parties).
all that aside, why is flip-flopping such a damning charge? we all give Obama a pass when he says he's against gay marriage because he's obviously just doing it to win votes.
given the choice between a true believer like GWB, who's going to stick to his convictions no matter where they lead, versus someone who's going to do whatever 50.1% of the country wants him to, I'll take the pragmatist.
You have a point or two - that a 'no convictions but gaining the office' Romney can be less bad than a true believer (I'd pick Santorum for that, I think Bush was largely a phony).
But Romney - who seems to me one of the two biggest position changers of modern times (with McCain) - seems to take that to an extreme to where it's a big problem.
Having him talking about 'absolutely having a conviction' for something for moral reasons that 'he never said' soon after when the political benefit changes is a problem.
That's not the limited form of 'playing politics' you mention for politicians who 'merely' support broad gay rights - historically ending the military discrimination - while not endorsing gay marriage as they should, and for which Obama is very much criticized in the progressive community.
Fact is, Obama is viewed by 'his base' as far too 'compromising' - just nowhere near the Romney level, and more 'compromising' than reversing positions. But he is guilty of too much of that as well, from Guantanamo to trials for detainees to other civil rights - but mostly it's 'compromising', getting SOME healthcare by caving to the insurance industry, failing to address all kinds of progressive issues from the Medicare Part D corruption to Wall Street prosecutions to ending the embargo on Cuba.
The think with Romney's flip flopping is that it seems his lack of standing for something decent makes him a whore for the special interests against the public interest.
That's quite dangerous, as we saw with Bush who was basically the same type of whore, handing the government over to those interests to write their own laws.