Romney connects at CPAC

Mitt Romney's CPAC speech (you can read it here) was a bit of a surprise.

The audience was much more enthusiastic and warm than you might imagine based on the emerging narrative that the GOP is unenthusiastic about him. (He does have over a million votes in the primaries, by the way.) He received multiple standing ovations (not everyone wa standing for every ovation, but many were). And he got a few laughs and dished out some red meat. (“It’s been a great conference. For that I suppose we should acknowledge President Obama, the conservative movement’s top recruiter. Turns out, he really is a great community organizer. Although, I don’t think we were the community he had in mind.”)

Romney did two critical things in the speech: He told us why he is a conservative and some of what he wants to do as president. Some of the biography was new to voters and to the media:

That’s the most genuine and believable explanation to date of how he came to conservatism. And it also explains why he doesn’t quite “speak conservative.” His experience in life, not political organizing or conservative theorists, gave him a conservative perspective on life and the country. He’s not going to send all the dog whistles, but he argued he shares their views.

He also set up a stark contrast, implicitly rejecting Rick Santorum’ idea that there would be no such contrast if Romney were the nominee, between him and Obama. The clearest rendition of it was this: “Politicians are routinely elected on promises to change Washington, but when they come here, they become creatures of Washington. They begin to see government as the answer to every challenge and the solution for every problem. At every turn, they try to substitute the heavy hand of the federal government for free citizens and free enterprise. They think government knows better – and can do better – than a free people exercising their free will. And this President is the worst offender. Barack Obama is the poster child for the arrogance of government.”

For the first time Romney also forcefully defended his record as governor of Massachusetts:

And then most important he answered critics who say he’s only running a negative campaign. He listed some specifics:

And he tried to assure social conservatives: “On day one, I will reinstate the Mexico City policy. I will cut off funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which supports China’s barbaric One Child Policy. I will ensure that organizations like Planned Parenthood get no federal support. And I will reverse every single Obama regulation that attacks our religious liberty and threatens innocent life.”

Had Romney delivered this speech months ago he might have saved himself some grief. And one speech isn’t going to calm the base. But it was a start. He showed he’s heard the concerns. It showed he knows he needs to comfort conservatives. It showed he has a conservative agenda. Now he’s got to do it again and again and add some detail to those policy plans. And if he shows the same positive disposition and outlook as he did today he may shed his image as a slash-and-burn candidate, recasting Santorum as the sharp-elbowed, take-your-medicine pol.