Like a lot of people, I was fairly startled by Mitt Romney’s new defense of his work at Bain Capital: It was just like the auto bailout! “In the general election, I’ll be pointing out that the president took the reins of General Motors and Chrysler, closed factories, closed dealerships, laid off thousands and thousands of workers,” said Mr.Romney, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, on “CBS This Morning” on Jan. 11.

“He did it to try to save the business.

We also had, on occasion, to do things that are tough to try to save a business.” My first thought was, didn’t Mr.Romney write an Op-Ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt?” Yes, he did.

But the title was misleading. What he actually called for was a “managed bankruptcy,” with government support — not too different from what actually happened.

“A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs,” Mr. Romney wrote in The New York Times on Nov. 18, 2008. “It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs.

The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.” So can Mr. Romney claim that he was for this successful policy all along? No, he can’t — because when the actual policy was proposed, he trashed it: “What is proposed is even worse than bankruptcy — it would make G.M. the living dead,” he wrote in a blog post on The National Review’s Web site on April 29, 2009.

So what the story of Mr. Romney and the auto bailout actually shows is something we already knew from health care: He’s a smart guy who is also a moral coward. His original proposal for the auto industry, like his health-care reform law in Massachusetts, bore considerable resemblance to what Mr. Obama actually did. But when the deed took place, Mr. Romney — rather than having the courage to say that the president was actually doing something reasonable — joined the rest of his party in whining and denouncing the plan.

And now he wants to claim credit for the very policy he trashed when it hung in the balance.

reader comments from nytimes.com

Unlike Mr. Romney, Mr.Obama didn’t receive any personal financial benefit from the government’s restructuring of the auto industry. And the bailout didn’t force thousands of workers out of their jobs. It actually saved thousands of jobs, not only at General Motors and Chrysler, but also in the auto parts industry, much of which would have been destroyed if not for those loans.

We should all show some appreciation for the Obama administration in this regard.

— Peter L. Ruden, Georgia

What’s particularly unfortunate about Mr. Romney is that, unlike his Republican rivals, you know he knows the truth – it’s clear that deep down he understands what’s right and what’s wrong. And yet he chooses to ignore the truth because he thinks it will help him win the White House.

Is that better or worse than some psychotic candidate who’s been brainwashed by the far right? I’m not sure.

— Carl Weetabix, Switzerland

The first time my 98-yearold mother saw Mitt Romney was during the first Republican primary debate. The only thing she said about him was, “He’s oily.” I trust my mother explicitly in her judgments of other people, and the more I learn about how Mr. Romney operates, the slicker he seems.

— Name withheld, Texas

If Mr. Romney argues that President Obama did the same thing with the auto industry that he did with underperforming companies at Bain Capital, doesn’t that seriously undercut Mr. Romney’s message that he, and not Mr. Obama, truly understands the economy?

— Peter Field, New York

On New Year’s Eve, Mr.Obama signed legislation allowing for the indefinite military detention of terrorism suspects captured on American soil. This legislation was co-sponsored by a Democratic senator and many Congressional Democrats voted for the bill. What does this say about Mr. Obama’s “moral” courage?

— Nancy, New York

Moral cowardice? The Democrats don’t seem to have any more morality than the Republicans do, at least at the presidential level. No, what separates Republican candidates from Democrats is that the former lie to the right and act corporatist, while the latter lie to the left and act ... corporatist.

— Allen Edwards, Oregon