Story highlights Timothy Stanley: Romney, who lost presidential election, has long been paradox

Stanley: Romney was moderate Republican in Mass.; later became "severely conservative"

He says GOP wanted a polished technocrat; Romney shifted rightward to win conservatives

Stanley: His contradications couldn't be overcome for frustrated electorate

Mitt Romney is a paradox. If you saw a photo of him and didn't know who he was, you might assume from the square jaw, trappings of wealth and arcane haircut that he was the perfect country-club Republican.

But that would be too simple, especially in this election.

Romney only looks like an insider. But in many ways, he has remained an outsider.

For one thing, the Romney-Ryan presidential ticket, which lost the election Tuesday to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, was the first in history not to include a Protestant. (Romney would have been the first Mormon president, Rep. Paul Ryan is Catholic.)

Timothy Stanley

He's a Republican who won election in a blue state. The people of Massachusetts may know the former governor as a bipartisan moderate, yet he sold himself on the national stage as "severely conservative." In his own state, he invented what many regard as the prototype for Obamacare, yet he repeatedly vowed to repeal Obama's version of it.

Is he moderate or is he conservative? The same question could be asked of the Republican Party -- and the GOP's own lack of ideological clarity is probably the exact reason why it nominated him. Cometh the hour, cometh the multidimensional man.

Today's Republicans find themselves in a dilemma. On the one hand, they have an enormous base of hyped-up voters who passionately subscribe to economic and social conservatism. They needed to energize that base to win. On the other hand, the margin of victory rested with a group of moderates and independents who like their politics a little more practical. The challenge of 2012 was to take the tea party agenda and rebrand it so that it could still appeal to the right but also win converts in the center. That was Romney's job -- and he didn't quite pull it off. Yet, if anyone could have, it would have been Mitt.

I suspect that the Republicans nominated Romney partly because he spent so much money acquiring the nomination but also because his personality seemed suitably vague. To be assigned to report on his rallies carried all the thrill of being asked to submit a 10,000-word critical analysis of a church picnic. His speeches were flat at best and goofy at worst. His attire was sensible trousers and shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and the family was so wholesomely large that you sensed they could swing a primary just by registering the grandkids.

But squareness was just what the GOP was looking for. In an era of recession, his business experience seemed like a big plus and his polished-yet-gentle style was a nice contrast to Obama's flashy rhetoric. It was understood that he had been a technocratic governor of Massachusetts, with a record on social issues that at times wandered a bit to the left. As I always explained to my British colleagues bemused at the irresistible rise of Mitt Romney, one of his greatest strengths was that he didn't look crazy. You could trust this man with the nuclear codes, whereas putting the entire arsenal of the free world in the hands of one of his primary challengers, like Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich, felt risky.

Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Inside the Romney bubble – Gov. Mitt Romney prepares for a speech in Toledo, Ohio, on Oct. 26, 2012. Hide Caption 1 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Friday, Oct. 26: Ames – Romney grabs Halloween candy backstage before speaking in Ames, Iowa, on Oct. 26, 2012. Hide Caption 2 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Saturday, Oct. 27: Pensacola – Romney is led to the stage by aides Garrett Jackson, left, and Charlie Pierce during the start of a rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Oct. 27, 2012. Hide Caption 3 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Saturday, Oct. 27: Kissimmee – Romney stands at the front of his campaign bus in Kissimmee, Florida, on Oct. 27, 2012. Hide Caption 4 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Saturday, Oct. 27: Land O' Lakes – Romney waits backstage before speaking to thousands at the football field at Land O' Lakes High School in Florida on Oct. 27, 2012. Hide Caption 5 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Sunday, Oct. 28: Celina – Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, and Ryan's wife, Janna, share a light moment before taking the stage for a rally in Celina, Ohio, on Oct. 28, 2012. Hide Caption 6 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Sunday, Oct. 28: Celina – Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan wave aboard their campaign bus in Celina, Ohio, on Oct. 28, 2012. Hide Caption 7 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Sunday, Oct. 28: Findlay – Romney waits backstage inside a training room before a rally at the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio, on Oct. 28, 2012. Hide Caption 8 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Sunday, Oct. 28: Marion – Romney sings with the Oak Ridge Boys backstage before a rally in Marion, Ohio, on Oct. 28, 2012. Hide Caption 9 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Sunday, Oct. 28: Mansfield – Romney pauses aboard his campaign bus in Mansfield, Ohio, on Oct. 28, 2012. Hide Caption 10 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Monday, Oct. 29: Des Moines – Romney is briefed on Hurricane Sandy during phone call inside his vehicle in Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 29, 2012. Hide Caption 11 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Tuesday, Oct. 30: Kettering – Romney hugs Kelly Owen, wife of singer Randy Owen of Alabama, backstage before a hurricane relief event in Kettering, Ohio, on Oct. 30, 2012. Hide Caption 12 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Wednesday, Oct. 31: Tampa – Romney holds in a room at the Miami airport before departing for Tampa on Oct. 31, 2012. Hide Caption 13 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Thursday, Nov. 1: Richmond – Romney is hugged by restaurant owner Rhoda Elliott during a visit to her struggling business in Richmond, Virginia, on Nov. 1, 2012. Hide Caption 14 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Thursday, Nov. 1: Richmond – Romney smiles backstage with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, left, who gives a fist bump to Romney aide Garrett Jackson after a rally in Richmond, Virginia, on Nov. 1, 2012. Hide Caption 15 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Thursday, Nov. 1: Doswell – Romney eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while working on a speech aboard his campaign bus in Doswell, Virginia, on Nov. 1, 2012. Hide Caption 16 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Friday, Nov. 2: Etna – Romney and son, Craig, read aboard their campaign bus in Etna, Ohio, on Nov. 2, 2012. Hide Caption 17 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Friday, Nov. 2: West Chester – Romney hugs his grandson, Parker, inside his campaign bus after arriving in West Chester, Ohio, on Nov. 2, 2012. Hide Caption 18 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Friday, Nov. 2: Dubuque – Romney is silhouetted on stage as supporters cheer during his airport rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Nov. 2, 2012. Hide Caption 19 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Saturday, Nov. 3: Midair – Romney talks with senior advisor Bob White aboard his campaign plane during a flight from New Hampshire to Wisconsin, Nov. 3, 2012. Hide Caption 20 of 21 Photos: Inside the Romney bubble Friday, Nov. 2: Dubuque – Romney greets supporters at an airport rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Nov. 2, 2012. Hide Caption 21 of 21

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But to win the primaries, Romney still needed the votes of that big block of conservatives. So he underwent a rebranding. For the record, the conservative movement never entirely bought Romney's conversion. That's why he lost Iowa to Santorum and South Carolina to Gingrich. Thereafter he was dogged for some weeks by Santorum, whose electoral coalition tended to be poorer, more religious, more conservative and more rural. In these truly competitive primaries, Romney's vote was often rich, moderate and elderly (no wonder Mr. Burns was such a fan).

Mitt was, in fact, the country-club candidate. He won primaries largely thanks to the support of people like him, and he only won because there are so many people like him in the Republican Party. But all the while, his empty pitch to the GOP base moved him rhetorically further and further to the right.

Of course, philosophical conservatism isn't necessarily an electoral negative for the GOP. It worked for Reagan in the 1980s and George W Bush in the 2000s. But whereas Democratic populism is programmatic (health care for all, tax the rich) for the Republicans it has tended to be personal ( dress like a cowboy, eat TV dinners). The problem was that Mitt lacked the requisite performance skills -- he's no Reagan -- which ended up converting his greatest strength into his greatest weakness.

Romney's broader appeal was buried beneath a wave of scandal and political character assassination. It was the debates that allowed him to regain control of the narrative. In that first debate he was clever, funny, energetic and passionate -- and in many ways outclassed Obama. My theory is that Romney flourished because the format was like a corporate job interview: question after question, a little light sparring, an emphasis upon "pep" ("Gee, I'd just love to run your country. When can I start?!"). The inner-intern shone through and Romney behaved like a smart kid out of college who's hungry to get his foot on the corporate ladder.

His performance was so good that it was historic , transforming the election in a way that few have ever done. It worked because Romney did what the GOP was waiting for him to do all year. He appealed to the center by sounding reasonable and moderate but he also fired up the base by saying things to Obama that they wanted to hear said. This was Romney at his very best -- and it's difficult to image an alternative candidate who could have done better.

But, ultimately, the contradictions inherent within both Romney and his party simply couldn't be overcome. The need to be both conservative and moderate confused and frustrated the electorate who were never quite sure what they were voting for. So the advantage fell to the incumbent. The ambivalent American public went with the devil they knew.

What next for Mitt Romney? Don't be surprised if he returns to his church. He's a man of faith with a record of charity and it would be in keeping for him to dedicate himself to others. I hope the conservative movement and the pundits will be just as charitable to him