In Republican reality, President Obama is a failure. You’d only suggest otherwise for purposes of making a joke. But in reality, the only people who consider an unmitigated failure are those who consider George W. Bush a success. President Obama didn’t blow the surplus, invade the wrong country and preside over the worst financial crisis in half a century. But he did end the war in Iraq, get bin Laden, save the auto industry while passing student loan, credit card and health care reform. Accomplishments like a law mandating equal pay and ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell aren’t impressive to the right wing. But to most Americans the improvements have been palpable. The stock market, for instance, has skyrocketed, which is no consolation to those still out of work. But it means security for the millions of Americans with 401ks.

Romney’s campaign only makes sense to Republicans who have bought the failure narrative. These are the voters Mitt shouldn’t have to worry about – but apparently he does.

Ann Romney has taken a prominent role in Mitt’s campaign since the Republican primary. At first, she was there to summon likability. Now, she’s his last best hope to close a gender gap that is maiming the Republican Party. Even before Todd Akin suggested that a “legitimate rape” could not make a woman pregnant and Sandra Fluke was called a slut for asking that a woman’s health care actual cover women, the gender gap existed. But with a GOP that has made its goal to stop funding Planned Parenthood, women recognize their health care is on the ballot in November.

Obamacare includes incredible victories for women, including the ending preexisting conditions, which prevents insurance companies from charging women more if they suffered domestic abuse or for just being a woman. When Mitt Romney says he’d repeal ObamaCare on day one, women will suffer.

The one legacy of Rick Perry in this election is that he forced Mitt Romney to move far to the right on immigration when he brought up a charge that Romney had employed undocumented workers. Sensing that this hot button issue with the GOP base could be his undoing, Romney moved progressively further to the right on immigration, embracing the author of Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 law as his advisor and calling for a policy self-deportation. He's backed off those positions but still has not revealed what would happen to the millions of undocumented young students and veterans who the president has made it a policy to stop deporting.

In a recent poll, Romney received zero percent of the black vote. That’s an outlier but it does speak up the depth of Mitt Romney’s challenge. The black community embraces Obama and younger African Americans are being activated by the outspoken support the president has received from stars including Jay-Z, Beyonce and Kanye West who recently released a song with a lyric that says “Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax.”

Romney has made no attempt to court the black vote. But he is trying to reach 40 percent of the Latino vote, which would put him nine percent higher than John McCain, who was – at one point – a champion of comprehensive immigration reform. This will require a major Etch A Sketch shake to get rid of his previous hardline comments.

Until Republicans stop running on George W. Bush policies, his failures will loom over this party. For a majority of Americans, Bush and Republicans are directly to blame for our current economic problems.

The fact is that even white voters in the south are tiring of the idea of tax breaks for millionaires. When Romney claims though he wants to give billionaires a 20 percent tax break but that won’t lower their taxes because he’ll eliminate deductions, eyes roll. When he demands harsher actions against Iran, people wonder if it’s a replay of Bush or Cheney talking about Iraq. When he says that Wall Street needs less regulation, even though it’s at new highs with reforms in place, eyes glaze over.

Republicans successfully rebranded themselves after 2008 as the Tea Party. But after less than one term of a “Tea Party” congress, it’s even less popular than the GOP. George W. Bush got more mentions at the Republican National Congress.

Ingraham is joking when she says that if Romney doesn’t win, the party is done. But there’s truth in it. This is the last election when the GOP’s coalition of married white men and married white women has a chance of making them competitive. The only question is the Republican brand holding Mitt back, or is it the other way around.