(Newser)
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Romney's biggest problem this election season isn't Barack Obama; it's George W. Bush, argues Ezra Klein at Bloomberg. It's Bush, not Obama, "who has made voters skeptical of many of Romney's core policies." Yet when asked directly how he contrasted with Bush at Tuesday's debate—which Klein sees as a "slow pitch right over the middle of the plate"—Romney had no ready answer. "President Bush and I are—are different people and these are different times," Romney said.
But the "depressing" truth is that while times have changed, Romney's policies haven't. Like Bush, he'd cut taxes, but at least when Bush did it we had a budget surplus, not today's enormous deficits. Like Bush, he speaks of cracking down on China, but China's currency manipulation has calmed. He promises to balance the budget, but so did Bush—and with about as many details. "Romney's right about one thing: These are different times," Klein writes. "We do need new thinking. But Romney isn't offering any." Read the full column here.
