Halperin’s Take: Why Romney Needs a New Narrative

Watch it above from MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

"He’s got a lot of strengths, and he needs to figure out a way, with his announcement on Thursday, to try to make his campaign about something besides health care and flip-flopping, and a lack of connection with voters...."

“If he didn’t have his experience from last time, particularly with the prism of the media, which does not like Mitt Romney or root for Mitt Romney in the way most Republican and Democratic nominees have. He’s got a lot of strengths, and he needs to figure out a way, with his announcement on Thursday, to try to make his campaign about something besides health care and flip-flopping, and a lack of connection with voters. He needs a new narrative. He’s laid low for most of this cycle, raising money behind the scenes, meeting with activists behind the scenes. Now as he comes out a little bit more, in the debates, in his announcement on Thursday, he needs to write a new narrative, something people can feel enthusiastic about, positive about, hopeful about, rather than the negative baggage that’s been attached to him. It’s a tall order, but I think that’s the main thing that’s keeping people from looking at him and saying, 'Wow, this guy’s going to have a lot more money than everybody else, including self-funding if he needs to, and he’s got the experience of last time, he’s the leader in NH, strong in Michigan, knows about the economy.' He’s got a lot going for him, that’s why he’s the frontrunner, but he does have to overcome bad baggage."