Mitt Romney has attempted to quash rumors that he would swoop into the 2016 race for president and end the chaos of the Republican primary, saying on Monday: “I’m not running, I’m not planning on running.”
After weeks of revived speculation that the 2012 GOP nominee could defeat “outsider” candidates – namely Donald Trump and Ben Carson – who have so far dominated the primary and exasperated party leaders, Romney denied that he was considering a third presidential campaign.
“I’m very much engaged in the political battles but I’m doing it as a supporter of conservatism rather than as a candidate,” the former Massachusetts governor told NBC’s Today show.
Romney first said he would not run for president after a January meeting with Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and 2016 candidate. The meeting appeared to set Romney up as a kingmaker for the Republican primary process, ready to give his blessing to a relatively moderate candidate who could stand a chance in the general election.
But then the bombastic Trump and soft-spoken Carson entered the race, each proclaiming a peculiar brand of conservatism, and establishment candidates such as Bush have been forced to the sidelines.
Romney assured viewers on Monday, however, that his persistent presence in Republican politics was not the prologue to an attempted comeback from his defeat to Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
“The fact is I care about the country,” he said. “When you lose, as I did, it doesn’t mean you stop caring.”
Pressed about what he thought of candidates such as Trump, Romney suggested that most were weak candidates but he did not name names. “With the 15 or so Republicans running,” he said, “among them maybe two or three [could] potentially become our nominee and also could win the general election.”
Romney instead used his TV appearance to criticize Obama’s counter-terrorism strategy in the Middle East, saying the US should destroy the Islamic State the same way a Nato alliance defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“If it metastasizes like this, the consequences can be very, very severe for decades,” he said. “It’s time for us to get serious about this, for us to come together as Nato and for us to eliminate Isis.”
He suggested that Arab countries should bear the brunt of the war to destroy Isis in Syria, and was not questioned about the Gulf states’ divergent motives or the Taliban’s resurgence. “The Saudis and UAE and Qatar,” he said, “are going to have to take a leading role changing hearts and minds in the world of Islam.”
Romney also used the appearance to criticize the Democratic frontrunner for president, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. “There’s no question that Hillary Clinton has a lot of experience, but she has a lot of bad experience,” he said.
He accused her of contributing to turmoil around the world, and especially in the Middle East. “She didn’t do that on purpose, obviously, but she’s just been wrong time and time again,” Romney said. “This Isis thing is a major issue and Hillary Clinton is wrong on it.”
On Saturday, Clinton suggested a more hawkish plan to combat Isis than the airstrikes and special forces operations so far conducted by Obama, and she has with many Republicans endorsed a no-fly zone over Syria.
