Mitt Romney: ‘I’m Not Going To Disappear’

While losing is never easy, some would say it's much harder for someone to admit they were to blame for that defeat.

But that's just what Mitt Romney did in an interview with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday," Romney's first interview since the 2012 presidential election.

The 2012 Republican presidential nominee and wife Ann spoke to “Fox News Sunday,” offering a guileless appraisal of his failed campaign, admitting to his failures and sharing his disappointments. He also adamantly maintained that he will continue to be a strong presence in American politics going forward.

“It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done,” Romney said in his first interview after the election. “It’s hard.”

The expansive interview includes Romney and his wife’s discussion of campaign mistakes, the heartbreak of the watching the election night results roll in, and Romney’s assessment of President Obama’s second-term leadership thus far.

“The president is out campaigning to the American people, doing rallies around the country, flying around the country and berating Republicans and blaming and pointing,” Romney said. “That causes the Republicans to retrench and to put up a wall and to fight back.”

Romney said that while he will not again seek elected office, he will continue to try to help the Republican Party, despite his now less influential standing.

“I lost and so I'm not going to be telling the Republican Party, ‘Come listen to me, the guy who lost,’ ” Romney said. “I'm not going to disappear. … I care about America. I care about the people that can't find jobs. I care about the fact that we're racking up larger deficits and putting the peril of the future generation very much in play.”
To read more of the interview with Romney, in which he also shares his opinions of Obama’s handling of spending cuts, Romney’s comments about not being able to reach 47 percent of voters, and his failure to engage minorities as well as the Obama campaign did, click here to read the transcript of the interview with Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday.”