Romney Was Convinced He Would Win, Says 'It Kills Me Not To Be' in White House
In his first interview since losing the presidential election in November, Mitt Romney criticized the President, telling Fox News' Chris Wallace that Obama could have avoided the sequester with more of a Romney-like leadership style, and that "I don't see that kind of leadership happening right now."
While declining to go into specifics about the shortcomings of his campaign, Romney did discuss why he thought the Obama campaign had the advantage. "The president had the power of incumbency. Obamacare was very attractive, especially to those who did not have health insurance, and they came out in large numbers to vote," he said. Up until election night, he was "convinced" he would win.
Reflecting on the current sequester and stalemate in congress, Romney told Wallace that "It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done. It's hard."
Romney did step back from his statements he made about the 47% of Americans who he said were "dependent on government" while at a private fundraising dinner. "It was a very unfortunate statement," Romney told Wallace. "It's not what I meant. I didn't express myself as I wished I would have. You know, when you speak in private, uh, you don't spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted. And it could come out wrong. … There's no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign."
Romney is slowly reemerging into public view, explaining that "Sitting on the sidelines when so much is at stake is just not in my nature." However, he also acknowledged that "as the guy who lost the election, I'm not in a position to tell everybody else how to win."
