WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said on Tuesday he hasn’t decided yet whether to run for president in 2012, but said he’s committed to “seeing that there’s somebody in the race who understands the economy.”
Mr. Romney said that if he did try again for the White House, he would want to avoid the kinds of distractions that often force a candidate off message.
On the economy, he said the country “needs someone who’s got private-sector experience.” He credited President Obama with trying to make things better, but faulted what he called the “most anti-investment, anti-jobs, anti-growth administration we’ve seen in a long time.”
Mr. Romney sought the GOP’s nomination in 2008 but lost to Sen. John McCain, who subsequently was defeated handily by Mr. Obama in the general election.
He also called on Mr. Obama to “press the pause button” on the federal health care overhaul in the wake of a judge’s decision declaring it unconstitutional.
Mr. Romney told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that “we don’t need the government imposing a one-size-fits-all system” on the states.
Mr. Romney acknowledged that his own health care law in Massachusetts contained the same kind of individual insurance mandate that a judge in Florida found unconstitutional in the federal law, but said he isn’t apologizing for it. He sought to make a distinction between the options that a state might choose under the 10th Amendment compared with Washington deciding the policy for all states in a single legislative act.
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