So BuzzFeed's McKay Coppins talked to various people in Mitt Romney's world and it turns out they still haven't gotten over losing last year's election.
For example:
“I think about the campaign every single day, and what a shame it is who we have in the White House,” said Spencer Zwick, who worked as Romney’s finance director and is a close friend to his family.
According to Zwick, the events of 2013 prove one thing: "Mitt was actually right." Well, okay, then. Right about what?
In the most actively cited example of the Republican nominee’s foresight, Romneyites point to the candidate’s hardline rhetoric last year against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration. [...]
“Everyone thought, oh my goodness that is so clever and Mitt’s caught in the cold war and doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” O’Brien said. “Well guess what. With all of these foreign policy initiatives — Syria, Iran, [Edward] Snowden — who’s out there causing problems for America? It’s Putin and the Russians.”
So, because Edward Snowden leaked a truckload of NSA documents and because the British parliament voted against attacking Syria (and because the Congress may not support such an attack), Romney was right to say that Russia is our number one geopolitical foe? Uh, okay.
But, wait, there's more. Remember when Mitt Romney said the word "Mali" during a debate and how Republicans said that by saying the word "Mali" during a debate, Romney had proved his command of foreign policy ... and then how a few months later the French intervened in Mali's civil war, proving that Mitt was in fact an expert? And you know how Detroit filed for bankruptcy? Well, according to Romneyland, these things prove Romney was right—and if they'd only happened during the campaign, he'd probably be president today (my emphasis):
Referring to the bankruptcy, Putin’s posturing, and the Mali conflict, Williams added, “Obviously, it would have been nice if any of these incidents would have occurred during the campaign to vindicate Romney. You would never want to see the bankruptcy of a major U.S. city, or the president embarrass himself on the world stage like he has, but Gov. Romney did discuss these potential outcomes.”
The thinking seems to go: Gee, if only some really bad things had happened to the United States and around the world before President Obama's re-election, then Gov. Romney would be President Romney. Newsflash to Romneyland: Some really bad things did happen to the country before the election—the attack in Benghazi, and Hurricane Sandy. Oh, and let's not forget about the financial crisis and Great Recession.
Given how poorly Romney dealt with those things, does anyone outside of his little world seriously think that he'd have struck gold if only a Detroit bankruptcy or Putin nose-thumbing or French Mali intervention had happened before last November? They can tell themselves whatever they want, but my bet is that he'd have lost by even more.