Does Romney plan on being a one-term President?
If not, he’d better make damn sure he keeps GOP voters happy.
A lame duck Obama will have no such worries.
Why?
I mean, it's not like he's keeping them happy now. Even most of those who have resigned themselves to supporting him only do so out of abject fear of Barack Obama, rather than because Romney has any positive attributes that would make a person want to vote FOR him, rather than just against his opponent.
Let's face it - even after all his major opponents have left, he's having trouble convincing a good third of the GOP primary voters to vote for him. He didn't even break 60% against Ron Paul alone in VA. GOP voters do not like him, and are only tepidly supporting him because they're too scared and conventional to consider moving to a third party en masse.
Further, Romney knows that he doesn't owe conservatives anything. They didn't put him where he is, except indirectly through being too stupid to coalesce and pick one conservative candidate prior to Iowa, instead frittering away their strength in the primaries by splitting and drifting from one not-Romney to the next. Romney owes us, and owes YOU, nothing. Conservatives aren't going to "hold his feet to the fire." Nobody is going to "keep him honest." That's all just wishful thinking on the part of the "no choice" crowd. It's not going to happen. And if Romney gets elected, and then pees in conservative cornflakes repeatedly, do you REALLY think that Romney is suddenly going to lose a GOP primary suite AS A SITTING PRESIDENT in 2016, even if he treats conservatives like dirt? Nope. Cause the refrain then will be once again, "Well, he's the lesser of two evils."
Sigh. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet and take a hit if you want things to get better.
Hopefully, the GOP is about where the Whigs were in 1850 - one election cycle from collapsing, and being replaced by something that will win on its principles for two generations.