In the American movie classic “The Wizard of Oz,’’ the lion longed for courage. It turned out he had it all along.

Perhaps the same is also true of Mitt Romney. If so, he can prove it, by first, winning election as US senator from Utah — and then standing up to President Trump.

“Wizard of Oz’’ analogies have been applied to Romney before, mostly in connection with a maddening absence of heart and core.

But at this moment in American politics, what Romney really needs is unflinching backbone.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Romney’s past dealings with Trump, a display of spine was preceded and followed by cravenness induced by political self-interest.

In March 2016, during the presidential primary season, Romney famously delivered a scathing speech, calling out Trump out as “a phony’’ and “a fraud,’’ and saying he lacked the temperament and basic integrity to be president.

Yet Romney’s brilliant put-down of Trump came after he sought and got Trump’s endorsement for his own failed 2012 presidential run. And his 2016 condemnation of Trump did not stop Romney from groveling unsuccessfully to become secretary of state in a Trump administration.

There’s some reason to hope that Trump’s vulgar performance in the White House may have finally pushed Romney to the point where he is willing to stand up for principle. In the run-up to the recent Alabama US Senate race, Romney offered a tough and unconditional take on Republican Roy Moore. He tweeted that Moore in the Senate would be “a stain on the GOP and the nation,’’ that the women who came forward to accuse Moore of inappropriate sexual conduct “are courageous heroes,’’ and that “no vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.’’

More unequivocal declarations like that would be welcome, especially from Senator Romney in Washington. He has the potential to do it.

Massachusetts knows Romney from his single term as governor, when he worked with Democrats to formulate the 2006 law that expanded health insurance coverage in the state and became a model for President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. It was his greatest achievement. If he brought that spirit of bipartisanship and conviction to Washington, it would be good not only for Utah but for the entire country. On the other hand, Massachusetts also watched Romney veer right to position himself for a presidential run. He lacked the backbone then to stand up to the dark forces that pushed the Republican party even further to the right, and which eventually consolidated around Trump.

Romney has the intelligence and public and private sector experience to be a force of wisdom and strength in Washington. All he needs is the courage to take on a bully more dangerous than any the lion met up with in Oz, because he is real, not fictional.