Reagan didn’t win the Cold War by throwing his imperfect allies under the bus.
A vote for the top anti-Obama weakened his mandate and political capital.
And nobody ever won anything by voting "against" because THERE IS NO SUCH THING. When well-meaning Republicans voted "against" Obama by voting for Romney, they necessarily voted for the Republican Party to philosophically embrace the Democrat agenda on FIVE major fronts: government run health care, homosexual "rights," activist judges, the environmentalist agenda, and on-demand subsidized abortion. Romney's record CONFIRMS his functional Democrat status on those issues.
That is plain, simple truth that many Romney voters are unwilling/unable to accept. But it is a simple truth just the same. To compare Romney with the "imperfect allies" that helped Reagan win the Cold War, is extreme and deceitful rationalization.
I’d rather be in the frying pan than the fire.