During the late and now unlamented campaign of Mitt Romney, the candidate was urged by other Republicans to affect a “separation” from the policies of George W. Bush. They were said by Democrats to have brought on the financial crisis and the “mess” inherited by Barack Obama, which he has been unable thus far to clean up.

They might have done better had they moved years earlier to detach the Bush policies from the cause of the meltdown, since there was little relation between the two. The crash of late 2008 was caused not by Republican dogma, but by efforts going back many years on the part of both parties to facilitate homeownership on behalf of poor people. It seemed like the right thing to do. It pleased both liberals, who wanted to help the downtrodden, and conservatives, who took to heart the old Jack Kemp adage that rental cars rarely get washed.