WHOOPS – AT 12:02 P.M. ET:  We've written here of our doubts about Mitt Romney as the 2012 GOP nominee for president.  He's a fine man, and has a reputation for competence.  But at times he has a tin ear.  He sometimes sounds too much like the corporate Republicans of the past, a bit too close to big business to form a real bond with the public.

Romney recently listed his complaints about the Obama administration's economic policy.  Most were entirely legitimate, and to the point.  But then he complained that the administration wanted to regulate "executive pay."  Now, he may well be right about that, but if he thinks that defending the pay of executives who take eight or ten million dollars in "compensation" from a failing company will endear him to the public, he needs come counseling.  Hasn't he noticed the growing resentment of Americans, across the political spectrum, to some of these Wall Street "executives" who couldn't manage their own kitchens, yet take enormous "bonuses" for Lord knows what.

Now Romney has done it again:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Potential Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama on Friday for his recent attacks on health insurance companies.

Obama has argued this week for congressional passage of a healthcare overhaul by pointing to rate increases by insurance companies that have made insurance unaffordable for many people...

...Romney, who is contemplating a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, said in remarks at the National Press Club that the problems within the U.S. healthcare system are more complicated than simply zeroing in on the insurance industry.

"Gosh, how disappointing it was to see the president take on the health insurance companies, as if the reason that healthcare is expensive in America is because of the insurance companies," Romney said.

"I'm sure there are some insurance companies that deserve blame and we can find them out and point them out," he said. "But this is an issue that is broader than trying to punish some scapegoat."

COMMENT:  Again, Romney may, in the strictest sense, be right.  But defending insurance companies isn't exactly a winning issue.  Americans generally dislike health-insurance companies, in some cases quite intensely.  And some of the companies have earned their contempt.  There is general agreement, regardless of party, that they have to be required to meet higher standards.

If Romney continues providing these sound bites for his opponents, he'll be crisper than toast.

March 6,  2010