Little Second-Guessing From Romney

Easing his way back into public life, Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential candidate, mostly declined on Sunday to reflect on his campaign’s shortcomings in his first interview since his defeat in November. But he did have a performance evaluation of the man who defeated him.

President Obama could have avoided the automatic spending cuts that began on Friday, Mr. Romney said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” but “I don’t see that kind of leadership happening right now.”

Mr. Romney said the White House was using the automatic spending cuts, called the sequester, as a political bludgeon at the expense of the country’s well-being.

“They may be more interested in showing pain and saying, ‘See what the other guys did,’” he said, adding “Nero is fiddling.”

Though Mr. Romney said “It kills me not to be there,” he expressed little regret - or second guessing - about the campaign.

“Of course, you rehearse all the mistakes that were made,❠he said, but “you move on. I mean, I don’t spend my life looking back.”

However, Mr. Romney said he was “convinced we would win” on Election Day, and acknowledged underestimating the Obama campaign’s political strength.

“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,” Mr. Romney told Chris Wallace of Fox News.

In the weeks after the election, Mr. Romney told donors during a conference call that Mr. Obama won by offering “gifts” to groups in his voting coalition, “especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people.” Even Republicans attacked Mr. Romney, hearing echoes of his damaging pre-election comments about the “47 percent” who are “dependent on government.”

Mr! . Romney brushed off that criticism, but acknowledged that while he would like to help Republicans regain their footing, “I recognize that as the guy who lost the election, I’m not in a position to tell everybody else how to win.”

While he spoke happily about getting to spend time with one of his 20 grandchildren almost every day, Mr. Romney is slowly returning to the public stage.

“Sitting on the sidelines when so much is at stake,” he said, “is just not in my nature.”

He has renamed his foundation the Romney Foundation for Children, to help “the very poorest kids in the world,” and he is scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, one of the right’s most important annual gatherings, next month.

But while Mr. Romney appeared ready to put the election behind him, his wife, Ann, said she still struggles with what she viewed as unfair treatment of her husband, whom she described as an “exceptional, wonderful person.”

She said, “Yo know, the great Princess Bride line, ‘mostly dead’ I’m mostly over it, but not completely. You have moments where you, you know, go back and feel the sorrow of the loss. And so, yes, I think we’re not mostly dead yet.”

Mrs. Romney said she is still frustrated that “people didn’t really get to know Mitt for who he was,” for which she blamed both the Romney campaign itself and the media.

The former nominee resisted suggestions by Mr. Wallace that factors like the Republican primary process or the embrace of President Obama by Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy caused his defeat.

“I lost my election because of my campaign, not because of what anyone else did,” he said.

While Mr. Romney is laying out his re-emergence, Mrs. Romney said she has resisted opportunities to raise her profile. She said she considered but ultimately turned down an offer to be on “Dancing With the Stars,” and though her name was floated as a possible Republica! n candida! te to fill John Kerry’s seat in Massachusetts, there is “not a chance” she would run.

Speaker Says a Broad Budget Deal Is Possible, but Not With More Revenue

With federal budget cuts beginning to take effect, House Speaker John A. Boehner on Sunday reinforced his opposition to any deal to reverse the cuts that includes new revenues. But he and senior White House officials left open a narrow path to a comprehensive budget agreement that could restore at least some of the money at some point.

Mr. Boehner, appearing on the NBC program “Meet The Press,” said President Obama has already raised taxes nearly $1 trillion to finance his health care program and in January won $650 billion in steeper taxes on high incomes.

“How much more does he want” Mr. Boehner asked. “When is the president going to address the spending side of this”

But the speaker offered some hope that the budget process - which begins this week with likely House passage of a spending measure, or “continuing resolution,” to keep the government open for the rest of the year â€" could still end in a comprehensive agreement that lowers the deficit, overhauls the tax code and undoes at least some of the automatic spending cuts.

“I don’t think anyone quite understands how it gets resolved,” he conceded. “After we do our continuing resolution, we’ll begin to work on our budget. The House has done a budget every year that I’ve been speaker! . The Senate hasn’t done a budget for four years. They’ve committed to do a budget this year. And I hope that they do. And out of that discussion and out of that process, maybe we can find a way to deal with our long-term spending problem.”

To that end, Mr. Obama made a round of phone calls to senators of both parties Saturday to prod bipartisan deficit talks, Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Sunday, also on “Meet The Press.”

The president’s path to a less arbitrary approach to deficit reduction is narrow and uphill, lawmakers of both parties say. House Republican leaders are adamant that they want no changes to the tax code - including closing tax loopholes that both sides agree are wasteful - as part of a deal to undo the spending uts. Instead, they say that any closing of loopholes or changes to the tax code should be part of a comprehensive effort to simplify the tax code and lower tax rates but keep the level of revenue received by the government the same.

“Republicans want tax reform. We want to bring rates down for all Americans so that we’ve got a fairer tax code,” Mr. Boehner said. “But to arbitrarily pull out a couple of tax expenditures and to say, ‘Well, we ought to use that to get rid of the sequester.’ Listen, every American knows Washington has a spending problem.”

The Senate’s top two Republican leaders, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cor! nyn o! f Texas, are increasingly reflecting that same firm position, and both fear a primary challenge from their right flank as they move toward their re-election campaigns next year.

Mr. McConnell, appearing on the CNN program “State of the Union,” gave no indication that he was willing to undo the automatic cuts with new revenue, only with spending cuts in other parts of the budget.

“We think it’s important to the American people to keep this commitment. We’re willing to do it. We’re willing to talk about reconfiguring the same spending over the next several months,” he said.

The White House is left to hope that rank-and-file senators can build momentum for a bipartisan deficit deal that isolates Republican leaders and ultimately raises pressure that cannot be resisted.

“I have talked to a number of colleagues on both sides of the aisle, many of whom are disgusted with the current state of affairs,” Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, said in an interview Friday.

Ms. Collins has already begun work with Senator Mark Udall, Democrat of Virginia, on legislation to mitigate the impact of the across-the-board cuts by giving the Obama administration more latitude to spread them around. She said those efforts could put lawmakers on a path toward a consensus on reversing the cuts as they build in force through this fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.

But, she said, the president has to speak frankly to the public about the tough changes that are needed over the long term to Social Security and Medicare as the population ages and entitlement costs continue to rise. It is not enough to keep repeating, as Mr. Sperling did on Sunday, that Mr. Obama is prepared to compromise, she said.

“The president has to go first with plans for Medicare and Social Security,” she said. “Then I think you will see more receptivity on the Republican side to an overhaul of the tax code” that raises more revenue.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, reiterated his support for up to $600 billion in new revenue through tax code changes oer 10 years in a deficit plan that addresses Medicare and Social Security.

Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, said Sunday on the ABC program “This Week” that she too would be open to more revenues in a broad, bipartisan deal that dealt with entitlements.

Mr. Sperling said Sunday that the speaker had already offered $1 trillion in additional revenue over 10 years in backroom talks with the president in December. About $600 billion in tax increases took effect in January.

“If he was keeping his offer on the table he would at least be willing to consider $400 billion in more revenues,” he said.