Rob Horowitz: Romney’s Ill-Timed Foreign Policy Punch
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Tellingly, while conservative talkers such as Rush Limbaugh rushed to Romney’s defense, most Republican elected officials were silent and the Republican Congressional leadership issued the usual statements of national unity and expressions of support and mourning that one expects in the immediate aftermath of these kinds of events.
President Barack Obama had a measured response to this crisis which served as a favorable contrast with Romney. Granted, the President was also advantaged by the tendency of the public to rally around the commander-in-chief during a foreign policy crisis which is exactly what made Romney’s criticisms so ill-timed. Further, the consistent high marks the President receives from the American public for his handling of foreign policy as evidenced by national polling over time should have been a warning to the Romney campaign that the same threadbare caricatures of the President as "apologizing all the time" or 'sympathizing with our enemies' simply does not pass the smell test with voters who all know Obama ordered the Navy Seal operation that ended the life of Osama bin Laden.
In order to capitalize on this, Romney will need to develop a more deft touch and outline a foreign policy that addresses current challenges in a new way. Nearly everyone, and that includes Obama, recognizes the importance of American strength, but most voters don’t want a return to the expansionist neo-conservative vision of an American Colossus going it alone and remaking the world in its own image That hard line view is what seemed to be at the core of the Bush foreign policy. At a time when American resources are limited, Mitt Romney must spell out his own approach to the unrest in the Middle East; the Iranian nuclear challenge; the continued threat of terrorism; and the need for alliances in what remains an uncertain and dangerous world. That is what a serious candidate does, instead of nakedly and clumsily attempting to capitalize on a foreign policy crisis.
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