Source: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/12090...

But there’s a more important reason why I’m disappointed that Romney ’16 won’t be happening: It’s one fewer GOP candidate talking about income inequality. One of the major storylines over the past few weeks was Romney’s newfound concern with it. "It's a tragedy, a human tragedy, that the middle class in this country by and large doesn't believe that the future will be better than the past," Romney told conservatives at a Republican National Committee meeting two weeks ago. "We haven't seen rising incomes over decades.… The rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse and there are more people in poverty than ever before under this president.”

That’s certainly a new argument from Romney. In January 2012, for instance, he was far more dismissive, even hostile, to discussions about inequality. “You know, I think it's about envy. I think it's about class warfare,” he told NBC’s “The Today Show” in January 2012. Whether or not Romney’s newfound concern for inequality is genuine is impossible to know. He could be choosing that line because an improving economy has given President Barack Obama’s approval ratings a boost and undermined some of the GOP’s normal attack lines against the president. Or maybe this is the real Mitt Romney. We may never know.