by Mark Silva
Mitt Romney says he's glad that President Barack Obama goes to bed each night worrying about how to keep the nation safe - that's the way former President George W. Bush went to bed, Romney suggested, the way all presidents should.
Never mind that Bush turned in a lot earlier.
What bothers Romney, the Republican former governor of Massachusetts who sought his party's presidential nomination, is what else Obama has been doing in the past few weeks:
"I'm concerned that over the last several weeks, the president has been in a Summit of the Americas, as well as being in Europe, and in each case he has not risen to defend America or to defend freedom,'' Romney said, in an interview aired on CNN's Situation Room today. "Instead, he has seemed to join into what Charles Krauthammer called the mea culpa tour, looking at ourselves and criticizing America, particularly when Daniel Ortega takes America to task for trying to overthrow Castro.
"That was an opportunity for the president to stand up and boldly defend freedom and democracy, and to chastise Cuba for not having provided those kinds of freedoms to its own people,'' Romney said.
"This is a president who I think is still looking to find his sea legs in this regard to make sure that he can stand to defend the purposes of freedom,'' he said. Of Obama. "He is the leader of the free world, and that has a responsibility which goes beyond just talking about our own mistakes....
"The bigger concern on my part is that there have been two momentous events in the last several months of a foreign policy nature,'' Romney said. "One is the testing of a long-range missile by North Korea, and the other is the announcement by Ahmadinejad of Iran that they have mastered all the steps necessary to enrich uranium.
"Both of these are game-changing events,'' he said, "and President Obama has not only not taken bold action in this regard - he doesn't indicate he's going to take bold action.''
So what would Romney have done?
"With North Korea, I would have made it very clear that we're not taking military options off the table rather than saying there's nothing we can do about it,'' he said. "I'd make it very darn clear that America intends to defend itself and that North Korea continuing to flaunt its agreements is not something which we're going to find acceptable.''
He didn't say, however, how he would make that so clear.
And Iran?
"With regards to Iran -- and in both cases, by the way, military options don't have to be exercised, but I think they have to be on the table -- at the same time, we do have economic options,'' he said. "And we and our friends around the world can make it very difficult for them to get commercial credit, to get banking access, to be able to move goods in and out of their ports.
"There are a lot of things we can do, short of military action, that -- that can have an impact,'' Romney said. "But sitting back and just talking is not going to do anything to get North Korea or to get Iran to become reasonable and -- and backing away from this nuclear brinkmanship that they are pursuing.''
Comments
As if we really care what Plastic Mitt the Flipflopper thinks....
Republicans still can't figure out the simple fact that the US going around the world acting like a thug towards other nations and saying stupid stuff like: "Bring'em On!" and "Axis of Evil" - does nothing but make other countries hate us.
Until Republican politicians figure this out they will continue to get their butt's handed to them come election time. Faux tough-guy talk may play well with the meatheads who make up what's left of the Republican base but it's repulsive to everyone else.
Posted by: Bl!nky | April 21, 2009 7:18 PM
It's nice to see that Romney still thinks his multi-millions will buy him a seat in the White House. 2012 is such a long way off and Romney is such a...soiled piece. A piece of stale nougat from the Republicans' candybox with tooth-marks and a dead fly on it.
The problem the GOP has, will have, is still Bush. Nobody trusts the rancid old GOP hacks anymore, and nobody can trust anything the GOP can trot out as a "new face" or "new blood," either, because that's what George W. Bush was in 2000.
Bush screwed the pooch for all of the Repugs and let's hope for all time, too. The Dems need to keep Bush's memory green. Alas, the Great Bush Depression is probably going to do that whether they bestir themselves or not.
Posted by: Biff O'Reilly | April 21, 2009 8:06 PM
This from a big game hunter who could only bag squirrels.
Well, no matter , Mitt.
The President is, as you may have noted, a very fast study.
He has performed superbly in the first 100 days (no thanks to you).
So by 2012, he'll be "hardly ever sick at sea".
Posted by: ornery | April 21, 2009 8:36 PM
Romney is completely irrelevant and has less credibility than a used car salesman. Feeling insecure, he must think he's important with his plastic looks and blown dried thick hair. Keep up the whiny yackey yack GOP, you will lose again in 2010 and in 2012, and rightfully so.
Posted by: Doug R. | April 22, 2009 8:03 AM
There is no bigger pandering tool in politics that Mitt Romney, and it still didn't win him the nomination.
Posted by: Joe | April 22, 2009 8:38 AM
If he was really concerned about defending our freedom, why didn't he encourage even one of his five sons to serve in the military?
Posted by: Grandblvd03 | April 22, 2009 9:15 AM
At the risk of the caustic remarks I, too, will receive, I agree with him completely. To listen to the hate and venom that resides in the hearts of both parties is why I loose hope in our country every day. And, I know it will never end.
Posted by: Tori DiVito | April 22, 2009 12:51 PM
At the risk of the caustic remarks I, too, will receive, I agree with him completely. To listen to the hate and venom that resides in the hearts of both parties is why I loose hope in our country every day. And, I know it will never end.
Posted by: Tori DiVito | April 22, 2009 1:41 PM
If you guys really didn't care about Romney, you wouldn't have read the story nor would you have commented on it. Nor would this piece have even been written. I like him and I can guarantee that the markets, which are the target indicators of our economy and which is our #1 issue, would be much more optimistic than they currently are. He also wouldn't be agreeing (silence is an act of agreement) with America's critics at every turn. This is not the change we hoped for.
Posted by: Brad R | April 23, 2009 12:20 PM
I appreciated George Bush and I would definitely vote for Mitt Romney. American's don't all think the same do we!
I don't feel like a rebel, I just
see the picture so much differently than those commenting on this blog.
History will tell if America will follow the fate of the Roman Empire. In my opinon, America's moral character is on trial here.
Posted by: Susan | April 23, 2009 12:35 PM
We conservatives should support ANY individual willing to stand up for our values and principles. Bravo to MItt for not fading away after last years elections. He clearly cares about the future of America. Let's face it, the religious right (Huckabee) and the mainstream media chose John McCain as our nominee last year. It's time that we supported the strongest most experienced leader for our future. Go MItt!!!
Posted by: carol | April 23, 2009 1:16 PM