Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Sunday that Republicans can win the White House in 2016 by focusing on likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state.
"The playbook, I believe, is to look at her record," Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts who was defeated by President Barack Obama in 2012, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I think you have to consider what's happened around the world during the years that she was secretary of state, and you have to say it's been a monumental bust."
Earlier during the discussion on the show, Romney brought up Clinton unprompted when talking about the current crisis in Iraq. He said that the majority of the blame for the insurgency fell to the Iraqi leadership, but that the Obama administration had also failed to do what was needed to maintain stability.
"The United States of America has long had the capacity to shape events and to influence events, but what you’ve seen from this administration, whether from Hillary Clinton, with the reset button to Russia -- which, by the way, I think should have been called the repeat button -- I mean, this administration from Secretary Clinton to President Obama has repeatedly underestimated the threats that are faced by America and has repeatedly underestimated our adversaries," he said. "Whether that’s Russia, or Assad, or ISIS, or al Qaeda itself, it has not taken the action necessary to prevent bad things from happening. It has not used our influence to do what's necessary to protect our interests."
Romney also criticized Clinton's response to the release of U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl.
"I think her clueless comments about the Bergdahl exchange as well as her record as the secretary of state are really going to be the foundation of how a Republican candidate is able to take back the White House," he said.
Romney said he will not make another bid for the presidency in 2016.
"I want to find the best candidate for us to take our message to the American people that we can bring better jobs, higher incomes, and more security globally," Romney said. "We can do that, and I'm convinced that the field of Republican candidates that I'm seeing is a lot better positioned to do that than I am, so I'm not running."
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