Romney weighs in: Obama is doing 'a good deal worse than even I expected'

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney made quite a scene as he attended a West Virginia rally for three Republican Congressional candidates who are up for election in November. Crowds cheered "Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!" as he spoke.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Nearly everyone at the rally-Republicans, party donors, reporters and the candidates themselves-pestered Romney about whether he was entertaining the idea for another run in 2016.

You can be a light in the darkness with "prayer and action."

To each and all, Romney publicly insisted that he wouldn't run again, but even his repeated claims are not enough to quell the Republican parties insatiable apatite for a Romney 2016 bid.

"I'm not running," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters after the rally. "I'm expecting to be getting behind some good people or a good person who will be [the Republican nominee]."

But Romney did have some sharp criticisms for U.S. President Barack Obama. He is doing "a good deal worse than even I expected," he said.

"I was not a big fan of the president's policies, as you know, either domestically or internationally, but the results of his mistakes and errors, in my opinion, have been more severe than even I would have predicted."

During these criticisms, Romney cited failures in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Ukraine, as well as domestic scandals like the IRS and VA corruption cases.

Despite denials about running in two years, Romney has placed himself squarely in the forefront of Republican midterm affairs, endorsing more than three dozen candidates in numerous states and headlining several party fundraisers.

A fledgling, grass roots movement has appeared to draft Romney for 2016, and polls have shown that he would beat Obama in a rematch. A CNN poll conducted in July showed that Romney would win the popular vote by 53% to Obama's 44%.

Romney has shown that he is aware of the sentiment, and has joked about a rematch.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" he said. "But that's not the reality of how the world works. Of course, the president won fair and square, and I respect the fact that he's the president and hopefully he's able to do what it takes to get America going again.

"I'm delighted that some people recognize that I would have been a good president," he said. "That's a nice thing to hear, but I'm not worried about the past, I'm much more worried about what our future looks like..."

During the West Virginia rally, Romney did tease the crowd.

"I don't know what's going to happen in 2016. I sure want to see a Republican president," he said to thunderous applause. "I'm going to be supporting one of the good guys who's going to be running in 2016."

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