Today’s New York Times oped from Mitt Romney raises a huge question: Why do powerful people often wait until they are out of power to finally take the obviously right position?

It’s a question less about tax policy and more about what courage actually is, and what each of our legacies actually are.

Yes, it’s better late than never when someone comes over to the right side of history - but valorizing that "(“even Mitt Romney is saying it!”) reinforces the idea that powerful people get to go on destructive self-enriching rampages when they actually have power, and then be gvalorized for writing reversal opeds in fancy newspapers toward the end of their life — and then all is forgiven.