What kind of president would Romney be?

Now that the circus in Iowa is almost over - and folks are waking up to the fact that the final results won't make much difference - NY magazine's Jonathan Chait lays out the prospect of having Romney in the White House and Republicans in control of both House and Senate:

A President Romney would have little leeway to push a GOP Congress to the center, and he has pledged himself to fulfill the agenda that the Party has already determined. Former Bush administration Minister of Propaganda Pete Wehner echoes, "This year, it seems to me, the party is the sun and the candidates are the planets ... They are trying to prove to primary voters that they are reliable and trustworthy when it comes to the basic platform of the GOP." It is surely clear that Romney's apparent victory was obtained by erasing every last vestige of his old and (I believe, though I can't be sure) authentic self. At this moment hardly anybody believes that his conversion was actually authentic. The support for him, such as it is, is simply a combination of disqualifying rivals and the assumption that the Party will continue to own him in office.

This truly chilling prospect - the GOP wackadoodles effectively running all three branches of the government - is about the best hand that Obama has for winning reelection.