Obama responds to Romney's tough talk on Mideast

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JOSH LEDERMAN and STEVE PEOPLES

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama, defending his foreign policy record at a time of anti-American rage in the Muslim world, fired back at suggestions from Republican Mitt Romney that the president has been weak with allies and enemies alike.

In an interview airing the night before Obama meets with other world leaders at the United Nations, the president said, "If Gov. Romney is suggesting that we should start another war, he should say so."

It was Obama's most direct rebuttal yet to persistent skepticism by his White House rival on his handling of an unraveling situation in the Middle East. Romney has charged the U.S. stance has been marred by miscalculations, mixed messages and appeasement.

The foreign policy arguments come as both candidates sharpen their strategy just six weeks ahead of Election Day. Speaking to reporters on a flight to Colorado Sunday night, Romney acknowledged he was slipping behind Obama in several swing states and said he would spend more time with voters in the coming weeks.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120924/DA1FQUH80.html

---

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to reporters on his campaign plane en route to Denver, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012, as Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, listens at right. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Excellent. Bring this up at every campaign stop.

If Romney wants to talk tough, throw it right back in his ugly bronzed face.

[Iliyah]

2. GOP fearmongering with the help of BiBi aka PM of Israel

I can completely understand that the Israelis do not want another WW2 wherein 6 million died. I don't want it to happen to another sector of people neither. Y'think we as human beings learn from our mistakes but from history I sometime wonder tho. Revenge, hatred, just plain non-trust and "religion". As a child I was taught unconditional love. Love of earth and its inhabiits. What I hear and see is the total opposite.

[DallasNE]

3. One Problem With The Lessons Of History

Is that you have to get the history right or you will draw the wrong conclusion on what the lesson is. In the Middle East Israel has not gone far enough back in history so they have arrived at the wrong conclusion and thus are repeating the mistakes of history. What I am talking about here is the mistakes made following the end of World War I. The extremely pu native position taken by the Allies against the defeated Germans virtually assured the rise of someone like Hitler and when paired with the defeat of the League of Nations all of the chips were in place for another war. Palestine was defeated in the 1948 war and conditions were set that were as punitive as what happened to Germany following WW I and what has followed should have been expected had anyone bothered to use the proper parameters in making an assessment of policy.

[cpwm17]

4. Except one can't even compare the Palestinians at all to the Germans

That's a completely wrong comparison. The Palestinians were the victims of a massive hate crime from the very beginning, a crime that continues. They now have no power to lunch any real war.

Though I get your point. The wrong lessons were certainly learned. Israel consistently violates international laws that were put in place to prevent a repeat of Germany's behavior in WWII.

[cpwm17]

5. Here is an excerpt from President Obama's interview on 60 Minutes

It speaks for itself:

Kroft: Since the Benghazi tragedy, your opponent has attacked you as being weak on national defense and weak on foreign policy. He says you need to be more aggressive in Iran, haven't done enough to support the revolt in Syria, and that our friends don't know where we stand, and our enemies think we're weak.

Obama: Well, let's see what I've done since I came into office. I said I'd end the war in Iraq. I did. I said that we'd go after al Qaeda. They've been decimated in the Fatah. That we'd go after bin Laden. He's gone. So I've executed on my foreign policy. And it's one that the American people largely agree with. So if Gov. Romney is suggesting that we should start another war, he should say so.

[reflection]

6. Excellently played by the President.

The logical next step is for the press to say "well, do you think we will have to go to war?" Romney will be forced to equivocate and tap dance, while the public recoils at the thought of another pointless war.