Ann Romney: Shutdown would not have happened if husband were president
Oct 7, 2013, 7:53 PM | Updated: 9:00 pm
Ann Romney, who had a chance to be first lady of the country in the last election cycle, joined the Mac & Gaydos show Monday to talk about her new cookbook, “The Romney Family Table,” but she didn’t hesitate to give her thoughts on some pressing political issues.
She expressed her displeasure with the government shutdown, and said she thinks it would have played out differently if her husband, Mitt, had won the election.
“I’m frustrated that the government actually has shut down,” Romney said. “The reason I’m particularly frustrated is that I know if Mitt were president, this would not have happened. I feel as though it’s a failure. If our government isn’t working and it’s shut down, there’s failure somewhere.
“I think a lot of Americans are pretty frustrated by it.”
Romney said that she wouldn’t place all the blame on Republicans because she sees failure from both parties to avoid the shutdown. She said her husband, as a Republican governor in a overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature, fought “philosophical battles” all the time, but that they all worked together to solve issues better than Congress does now.
“We respected each other. We talked to each other. We had the senate president and speaker of the house over to our home for dinner, and we enjoyed each other’s company; we got to know each other,” she said. “He (Mitt) met with them frequently and they got things done because they were working for the people.”
The former first lady of Massachusetts agreed that her life is less stressful now than if she had moved into the White House, but she said she was ready and eager for her husband to be elected president.
“Personally, our life is wonderful. But, yes, I wish Mitt were there. I would give up whatever it is you have to give up, because I knew that going in that it would be tough,” Romney said. “I knew the campaigning was going to be tough. And yet I believed in my husband, and am very disappointed that he’s not there.”
Romney will make two book-signing appearances in the Valley on Tuesday.
