The 2012 U.S. presidential race will not go down in history as a particularly memorable one. But the incumbent and challenger were both such qualified and decent men that the contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney now looks to have been one of American democracy's finer moments. It has been so downhill since then that it's been hard not to turn away in disgust.
To be sure, the straight-laced Mr. Romney was done in by media critics for uttering a series of whoppers that betrayed his patrician roots and Mormon values. He dismissed the "47 per cent" of the electorate he predicted would stand with Mr. Obama no matter what because they "believe the government has a responsibility to care for them." The former Massachusetts governor said he went through "binders of women" to promote female candidates for state jobs. He said that as president he would rely on the "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants.
On foreign policy, however, Mr. Romney's instincts were dead on. He had taken the measure of Vladimir Putin and predicted that the man who was then set to return to the Russian presidency would be up to no good. He pegged Russia as America's greatest geopolitical threat.
For that, he was ridiculed by Mr. Obama. "The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years," the Democratic incumbent quipped in one debate. "You seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s." The rest, as they say, is history.
Mr. Obama's second term saw an emboldened Mr. Putin go on a rampage. He annexed Crimea, armed rebels in the Donbass region of Ukraine, entered Syria's civil war on the side of Bashar al-Assad's murderous regime and plotted to undermine European unity and U.S democracy. Last week's indictment by special prosecutor Robert Mueller of 13 Russians for meddling in the 2016 presidential race cast both President Donald Trump and Mr. Obama in a poor light, the former for playing down the Russian interference that helped his election and the latter for not doing enough to stop it out of fear it might look like he was tipping the scales in Hillary Clinton's favour.
Who knows what Mr. Putin has next up his sleeve? Whatever it is, the world cannot count on Mr. Trump to stand up to the Russian outlaw. Nor will a U.S. Congress controlled by Mr. Trump's yes men dare take on Mr. Putin, lest such action irritate the President by lending credence to Mr. Mueller's investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
The Trump Resistance is in dire need of troop replenishment. The few Republican politicians who once dared denounce the President's hateful outbursts and cluelessness on public policy or question his mental and moral fitness for office are either quitting politics (in the cases of Pennsylvania congressman Charlie Dent and Arizona Senator Jeff Flake) or fighting other battles (in the case of a cancer-stricken Senator John McCain). Those still deciding whether to run again (such as Tennessee Senator Bob Corker) have suddenly gone silent to avoid incurring Mr. Trump's wrath.
Enter Mr. Romney. The two-time presidential candidate announced last week that he will seek a Utah Senate seat in November. Everyone in Washington is treating his election as a foregone conclusion. Even Mr. Trump rushed to endorse the man he in 2016 called "one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics."
Mr. Romney is unlikely to antagonize the President much before he enters the Senate. That would be a needless provocation that might backfire. But in a campaign-launch video, he vowed to bring "Utah values" to Washington, including balanced budgets (as Mr. Trump blows up the federal debt) and an inclusive immigration policy (as Mr. Trump seeks to close the doors to newcomers from "shithole" countries).
"The poverty of an aspiring immigrant's nation of origin is as irrelevant as their race," Mr. Romney tweeted in January after Mr. Trump reportedly made his shithole remark in a meeting with lawmakers.
Will Mr. Romney lead the Trump resistance when he gets to D.C.? Who better than a guy Mr. Putin actually might lose sleep over?
Mr. Romney – who turns 71 in March, but who is about a year younger than Mr. Trump – might even consider challenging the President in 2020. His third White House bid might be the lucky one, for him and for America.
Konrad Yakabuski