I'm not sure why CPAC invited Mitt Romney to speak this year. I'm also not sure why he agreed to participate.
There wasn't much to his address -- delivered, incidentally, from notes he read, instead of the teleprompter he relied on throughout 2012. "I'm sorry I won't be your president," Romney told the conservative audience. "I will be your coworker and I'll work shoulder by shoulder beside you."
Unless your job can be outsourced, at which point the former governor will stop being your coworker and start being the guy who laid you off.
There was one paragraph, however, that struck me as interesting.
"It's no secret that the last century was an American century, and it's no secret that over the span of the coming century, that is not written in the stars. America's pre-eminent position is not guaranteed. And the consequence if America were to become surpassed by another nation would be devastating. Why do I say that? It's because the other leading contenders for world leadership -- China, Russia, the jihadists -- not one of them accepts freedom as we understand it."
So, let me get this straight. The man who sought the nation's highest office for six years seriously believes "jihadists" will compete with the United States on the international stage? In Romney's vision, "jihadists" have the potential to become a global superpower, capable of "world leadership," on par with the U.S. of A.?
I realize the 2012 election wasn't decided on foreign policy or international affairs, but I've never understood Romney's strange view of the world.
More so than at any time in recent memory, it's not at all clear what the foreign policy of the Republican Party is. As GOP leaders engage in their intra-party debate, I might suggest they leave their former presidential nominee out of the conversation.