The conventional wisdom took shape quickly following the first presidential debate, with Romney’s dominance taken as given by virtually everyone. More interesting, though, is how he did it. It was more than just having a good command of figures, standing up straight, making eye contact, etc. As Scott Galupo of The American Conservative noted, Romney the Moderate showed up for that first debate. The Left later cried foul about this — why, this isn’t the Romney we’ve been seeing on the campaign trail! How dare he moderate his positions!

But this is Mitt Romney we’re talking about, after all. Why should they have been surprised to encounter Mitt 8.0? Is his lack of consistency not his most notorious trait?

Romney took middle-of-the-road positions on all sorts of issues, from health care to financial regulation to taxes. This was lost on most of the conservative commentators who spent that night and the next day crowing about Mitt’s debate performance. But it pretty much confirms what critics have said from the start: not a whole lot is going to change under Mitt Romney.

Except one thing: he seems more bellicose on foreign policy. And this is not necessarily a winner with the electorate, though he scores points with “the base,” which thinks this kind of foreign policy is conservative. Romney seemed to recognize this in his nomination speech, which hardly touched on foreign policy. It will be interesting to see how Romney balances all this in the upcoming debate on foreign policy.

The other key to the debate was the conservatives’ reaction. All the commentators were thrilled, even though Romney succeeded in the debate in large part by discarding the conservative position on Obamacare, financial regulation, education, and the like. So he’s not even elected yet and he’s already kicking conservatives in the face. Meanwhile, they cheer. Romney is this year’s Lucy with the football. He’s already yanking it away, but the conservative Charlie Browns continue to think this time will be different.