No one said it did. Publicly praising a terrorist organization in campaign speeches IS most probably inspired by a desire to placate hostile factions.
That's the difference you are unwilling to acknowledge. Placating and political correctness, rather than a desire to "learn from your enemy's successes," seems Romney's probable motivation.
Did you even read the speech in which he made the remarks?
He didn't praise them. He simply stated a fact: they got political support by providing services to people in South Lebanon, and that we could use a similar strategy.
The speech was about the strategies we could use to win the war on terror.
Please, read the speech before you make unsupported accusations like that.