Gavin Newsom is on a quest to make you believe he’s the quintessential everyday American whose challenges and struggles are universally identifiable. It has not gone well.

Like an actor who cannot help but betray the stage directions in the script, Newsom cannot help but convey the extent to which he’s been overcoached by an army of consultants whose foremost goal is to neutralize his glaring political liabilities.

Last October, for example, California’s governor suddenly started talking with conspicuous frequency about the childhood malnutrition he experienced as a result of his family’s impoverishment. Newsom had not dwelled much on the years he says ...

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