The Romney camp has finally gotten it.

No, not about whether rape can ever be "legitimate". Or whether contraception is a fundamental right. No, what they have finally gotten is that they are likely to lose this election because of women.

Clear evidence of this is the volte-face the Romney camp has done in the past few days on "Romneycare", a topic that it had treated as thoroughly radioactive until now. And the Obama camp is banking on a case of irreconcilable differences between the Republicans and, come November, a majority of voting women to put them over the top.

In a sane Republican party, Romneycare, the healthcare overhaul Romney implemented as governor of Massachusetts and which Obamacare closely resembles, would be a major selling-point. It's overwhelmingly popular in Massachusetts, delivering to residents the highest percentage of insurance coverage in the country.

But sanity long since quit the Republican party. Republicans just plain hate Obamacare and they've pledged to wipe it out, root and branch. Romney, ever compliant towards the radicals in his party, ran away from his own signature governing accomplishment during the primary season as fast as he could.

Until now. In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Romney declared:

"With regards to women's healthcare, look, I'm the guy that was able to get healthcare for all the women and men in my state."

The host, Chris Wallace, parried, "So you're saying, look at Romneycare?" To which Romney replied, "Absolutely. I'm proud of what we did."

In belatedly embracing Romneycare, Romney is trying to make up lost ground on a policy that women are significantly more likely to support than men. By a wide margin, women are more likely to support health insurance requirements than men. Yet Romney, as always, hopes to have it both ways. He hopes that the public won't notice that, in order to satisfy his party, what he is really promising is not only the repeal of Obamacare, but also the destruction of Medicare, to be replaced by the Ryan voucher plan.

So, it's unlikely that a few insincere words delivered via a Fox News interview is going to mend Romney's broken relationship with women. And the fact is, it was never good to begin with.

Romney has consistently suffered from a significant gender gap, with Obama's lead among women clocking in at between 16 to 20 percentage points in April. Although that has since narrowed, a recent ABC/Washington Post poll gives Obama a 6 percentage point advantage nation-wide among women. Obama's advantage with women continues to more than offset Romney's advantage with men – enough, at this point, to deliver victory to Obama in November.

What the Romney camp is trying to come to terms with is that, in this election, caring and compassion are trumping perceptions of competence in managing the economy. In a recent CNN poll, 53% of likely voters stated that Obama is more in touch with the problems facing middle-class Americans, compared to only 39% who stated that Romney is more in touch. In contrast, Romney bested Obama by 48% to 44% on competence in managing the economy. Tellingly, though, Obama leads Romney 60% to 31% on the question of who is more in touch with the problems facing women today.

In reality, Romney's plan (that is, Paul Ryan's plan) for the economy would be an utter catastrophe, with savage cuts to government spending leading to a severely depressed economy, a skyrocketing deficit, and untold misery for the average American for years on end while the rich benefit. Despite Romney's unmerited reputation for competence in stewarding the economy, voters – women voters, to be exact – are signalling that Romney's vision of America is too extreme, too callous, too destructive.

Arguably, it might be the wrong comparison, but the conclusion is correct. I'll take it, flaws and all.