Romney’s whole campaign has been like this - and the tactic has been very effective. In 2008, he simply decided that he was going to be the winner, was immediately backed by the GOP E because he’s their type of guy, spread some money around to buy a little Tea Party support from people like Rubio, told the media he was the GOP candidate, and was on his way.
In other words, being presumptuous was how he got where he did. He has never had any ideas or any suggestions for change, and in fact he doesn’t want to make any changes. In other words, he didn’t really campaign, he just stepped up, flashed the money and said “here I am, your next Presidential candidate.”
He simply kept stating that he was the next GOP Presidential candidate as if it was inevitable, and he had the personal wealth that could support him in doing nothing else for the next four years. The result was that he was treated by everybody from the press to the other candidates as the annointed one, and their campaigns were portrayed as acts of insurgency against the rightful candidate.
He has assumed since 2008 that he owns our votes, and because of the weak and idea-free GOP establishment, he has gotten everything he wanted. But he still couldn’t buy love, so he’s not popular and he’s not going to win the Presidency, and even the GOP establishment knows that. They just don’t care, because most of them are fine with Obama and they didn’t think anybody could beat him in the first place.
The GOP establishment is perfectly happy with an Obama second term because they'll still be eligible to grab the scraps that fall off of TheWon's table. Romney to them? "Ehh...it was his turn - where's the next lobbyist party?"