Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has come under repeated fire from Republicans for her "reset button" fiasco, and former GOP presidential nominee now says it should have been called a "repeat button" for the administration's inability to learn from the past.
Appearing Sunday on "Meet the Press," Romney said Clinton's State Department and President Barack Obama's administration as a whole have repeatedly underestimated America's adversaries and the threats the country faces.
He pointed to the current takeover of a large swath of Iraq and eastern Syria by the militant group Islamist State of Iraq and Syria as one of Obama's failings.
What has happened is predictable because of Obama's failure to act on his "red line" threat against Syrian President Bashar Assad two years ago and to get a status-of-forces agreement in Iraq, allowing a small number of American military personnel to remain.
"Bad things happen as a result of inaction," Romney said. "Consequences have obviously been very severe."
Romney said he doesn't get intelligence briefings any longer, so he can't say for certain what action the United States should take next.
Host David Gregory challenged Romney with his previous words, citing a statement he made when running for president in 2008 that American forces should be removed from Iraq so the country could be left to govern itself.
Romney responded that when he ran again in 2012 he was clear that a small number of troops should remain to ensure something like what is now being seen in Iraq didn't happen.
Two leading Republicans, Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan and Sen. John McCain of Arizona warned this weekend that if not stopped ISIS will bring their terrorist war to American soil.
Romney has made several media appearances in the past few days to discuss his annual summit in Park City, Utah for donors, supporters, and former campaign aides. In those appearances he has spent at least as much time tearing down Hillary Clinton, the expected front-runner for the Democratic presidential nod in 2016, as he has talking about his event.
On Sunday, he repeated his line that her tenure as secretary of State was a "monumental bust," and criticized her "clueless answer" to a question about the swap of five Taliban leaders for U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
Clinton told an interviewer last week that the five Taliban members are not a threat to the United States.
Romney's criticisms of Clinton appear to be more for party loyalty than for personal gain. He repeated his denial he has any intention of seeking the presidency again in 2016.
He told Gregory that he brought in a number of 2016 contenders to meet with his fundraisers at Park City.
"Had I been running I wouldn't be doing that," he laughed.
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