However much voters like or dislike Romney, they like "generic Republican" a lot more. That is not a discredit to Romney; it is rather a statement of how much America likes what America thinks of as Republican values. No Republican could possibly match up to it, because "generic Republican" is an ideal.

Where political strategy comes in is that, if Romney wants to capitalize on that, he's got to make America see him on his values, not on his policy details. It's far easier to match your values up to an ideal than it is to match your policy details up to one. Policies are pragmatic, so their details inevitably fall far short. Values are idealistic, so it's just a matter of positioning. This is what Romney is doing. If he gets too specific, he makes the debate about his policy details instead of about his values. That, of course, is precisely what Democrats want him to do, because they know better than to try to run against Generic Republican.

In the meantime, Democrats are also trying to show that Republican politicians have values that go against the Republican ideal. But this comes with the disadvantage of having to claim they are more Republican than the Republicans. Even if it is true, it is a terribly hard argument to make. So it is especially important that they win the argument over whether the debate should be about values or policy details.