I’ve been meaning to note this David Brooks column from last week. He had an insightful analysis of Romney as an “other directed” personality. He proposes that, in reaction to his current straits, Romney become more open about his background (which is happening a bit) and find an unpopular issue to fight on to show that he isn’t always pandering. There are two problems that I see: 1) Brooks is basically advising Romney to prove his political courage by sitting down with Stuart Stevens and figuring out, under duress and at this late hour, what issue it would be best for him to pick to try to show his political courage. 2) Brooks writes, “it would actually help him at this point if he violated party orthodoxy in some bold and independent way.” But he already has such a departure — Romneycare. He hasn’t gotten many points for sticking by it because many people assume he decided to do so in a process that looked a lot like that outlined in 1).