Wall Street Journal Pans Romney's Job Plan

Mitt Romney’s big list of 59 economic policy prescriptions is a swing and a miss, as far as the famously conservative editors of the Wall Street Journal are concerned. “We’ll say this for it: His ideas are better than President Obama’s,” the editors write. But they’re also “surprisingly timid and tactical.” Romney, the editors complain “ducks and covers more than he needs to,” particularly on taxes and spending.

Romney promises spending cuts, for example, but doesn’t “provide even a general map” to them. He wants to cut capital gains taxes, but only on those making $200,000 a year or less. His one bold proposal, “confronting China” on trade, “is a rare policy mistake that Mr. Obama hasn’t made,” the Journal opines. Overall the plan feels limp. “The biggest rap on Mr. Romney … is that it’s hard to discern any core beliefs,” the editors conclude. “Yesterday’s policy potpourri won’t change that.” (More Mitt Romney stories.)