Mitt Romney: "It kills me" to not be in the White House
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, did not win his race for the White House, but in his first post-election interview today on "Fox News Sunday," he wants everyone - friends and foes alike - to know that he's not exiting stage right.
In a wide-ranging discussion, the former Massachusetts governor and his wife, Ann Romney, opened up on the reasons for their loss, their adjustment to life after the campaign, and President Obama's leadership since his reelection, making clear that they were disappointed by the loss, but even more disappointed about the direction the country has taken since then.
"Nero is fiddling," Romney said, likening the president to the infamous Roman emperor who played his fiddle as Rome burned.
"No one can think" that the fight over the sequester "has been a success for the president," Romney argued. "He didn't think the sequester would happen. It is happening, but to date, what we've seen is the president out campaigning to the American people, doing rallies around the country, flying around the country, and berating Republicans."
He suggested that the president may be more interested in "showing pain" and wielding the sequester as a weapon against Republicans than in actually finding compromise.
And that adversarial, campaign-style politicking, Romney said, has poisoned the well of compromise instead of enabling the president to engage with opposition. "I don't see that kind of leadership right now," he said, and "it kills me not to be in there, not to be in the White House" to provide that direction.
Instead, after his loss, he watches, more bystander than inside player. But until the very end, Mitt Romney said, he was convinced that it would turn out differently. "We were convinced that we would win." When talking about the moment it became clear, after the numbers from Ohio began rolling in on election night, that victory was slipping out of reach, he said "it's hard, it's emotional."
Ann Romney described the "crushing disappointment" she felt - "Not for us, our lives are going to be fine. It's for the country."
"For me, yeah, I cried," she said.
Mitt Romney likened his exit from the campaign trail to stepping off an amusement park ride. "We were on a roller coaster - exciting and thrilling, ups and downs," he explained. "But the ride ends, and then you get off."
And despite the unfortunate outcome, Romney said he does not dwell on what might have been. "I went through a number of my mistakes, I'm sure...but you move on. I don't spend my life looking back. It's like, OK, what are we going to do next?"
"I think it takes time," Ann Romney added. "I'm mostly over it."
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They only time they will pretend to care is election time. Your vote is almost the only thing Plutocrats fear. And they are doing their best to make sure it counts ever less as time goes on.
If you closed a business, it was because the business was not profitable. You most likely did not have the customer base, or marketing smarts to remain open.
There is no business that is taxed more than 100% of profit, or even near it, and as long as there is profit, then any business can stay open.
You blame Washington for your own inability to generate profit, you can file that fairy tale in the bin marked "Can't afford it, can't have it".
Isn't that the so-called "conservative" mantra?
never down to earth. She spoke to reporters as though they were the enemy.
It was her own words that caused the public to form the opinion that she felt "entitled"...like when she said: "You people"...etc. Ann couldn't stand the press criticizing her husband during the campaign, so you can imagaine how worked out and angry she'd be if he had won. Neither of their personalities are not matched to politics and compromise. Unfortunately, their bitterness shows in their mannerisms and words. Sad
that their wealth and family does not bring them the joy it should. They
wanted to be at the top of the heap and the public rejected them. They are not used to rejection in any form, so this is a new challenge they have to deal with - and so far are whining, not being realistic and facing their flaws. The 2012 campaign was awful because the Romney's do not display common sense and humility. The American people recognized that and voted accordingly.
The GOP was caught trying to keep from alienating their hard-core right-wing base, while trying to pitch a bid to those of us who find right-wing politics totally unacceptable.
The also-rans, like the racists Santorum(n.) and the Pauls were doing the "Stormfront" grunt work, preaching to their ASPD-afflicted own, while Mitt tried to wink and nod, which is why he never stood pat.
If he stood right-wing, he had no chance, and if he tried to distance himself from the right, his record offered no credibility to that matter.
Romney's problems are the same as the entire GOP's problems, their fascist agenda is being rejected by ever increasing numbers of Americans, and after decades of hate mongering, they have indelibly branded themselves as mainstream America's antithesis.
Actually, you are Mitt. The right does not like you or your ideas, and the left thinks you are a joke. Exactly what part of the stage do you think is waiting for you? Unless you are contemplating a Broadway career.
It sounds like this power hungry ego maniac is going to try it again. Will the republicans try and prove they are not paid off by the wealthy in this country in the next pres election?
What have YOU done to help others? How much of YOUR money do you give to charity? Oh wait, I forgot liberals only take - and regurgitate talking points. As long as the checks keep coming you'ld blindly follow Satan himself.
I did not agree with much of Romney's campaign, but I have met both Romney and Obama. Romney has more caring and class in his little finger than a hundred Obamas. Would Romney have been the perfect president? Absolutely not. Would he have been a better president than the idiot boy king? Without a doubt.