My sense is that he did not want it badly enough, and underestimated the amount of detailed knowledge and political skills it takes to win office. I get the impression that politically-speaking, he's a part-timer rather than someone who's deeply engaged in the minutia. He is a great family man whose children have benefited from his attention and guidance. The nation, however, has suffered from his inattention to politics, that culminated in his defeat in 2012.
In contrast, Reagan was an aloof father whose life's work wasn't raising his children; it was figuring out how to raise this nation out of the disasters of the 60's and the 70's, and how to get in a position to implement his preferred policies. As a result, several of Reagan's children have turned out pretty dysfunctional, and it's clear that this must have been a source of pain for him. In retrospect, we owe Reagan a great deal for the personal sacrifices he made on the road to the presidency, so that we could have the decade that slowed down the economic death spiral which was simply a matter of time once FDR initiated the New Deal.
Mr. Romney, like Rove, was in it for the $$$$$$$$$$$$ only.
Backstabber Rove made an estimated 50 to 200 million from the
disaster. So watch for him to eagerly repeat it.
America is so screwed that the GOP did not listen.