The Obama campaign is ratcheting up its attacks on Mitt Romney’s comment that Russia is the “No. 1 geopolitical foe” of the United States, reports Michael Hastings at Buzzfeed:
The Obama campaign has stepped up its mockery of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy views, continuing a theme rolled out at the Democratic National Convention to portray the Republican candidate, who has limited foreign policy experience, as out of his depth in international affairs.
The latest installment: a fake movie poster that uses the line Senator John Kerry debuted in his speech two days ago at the convention, where he compared Mitt Romney’s national security ideas to those of Sarah Palin.
“Sarah Palin said she could see Russia from Alaska,” Kerry said on Thursday. “Mitt Romney talks like he’s only seen Russia by watching Rocky IV.”
President Obama also piled on in his DNC speech: “After all, you don’t call Russia our number-one enemy — not al Qaeda, Russia — unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War mind warp.”
Admittedly, it was a dumb comment from Romney. On the other hand, the Obama campaign continues to insist that the Russian reset is going just swimmingly, so I’m not sure they have the authority to mock anyone else for delusions about the U.S.-Russia relationship.
Is this a smart strategy for Obama? He’s trying to brand Romney as a fumbling newbie on foreign policy issues, but Obama’s own Director of National Intelligence made a similar comment about the Russian threat in the past (which he was immediately pummeled for by Senate Republicans). Note that polls show Americans overwhelmingly view Russia and Putin negatively and do not view the country as an ally. By criticizing Romney on this issue, Obama is drawing attention to his own weak record on Russia and his troubling comment to Dmitry Medvedev about being “more flexible” after the November election.
the Russian threat n nWho are they threatening? LOL
hmmmm…let' see…..Syria receives its weapons from Russia…..Chechen has been laid waste by the Russians….Poland is rightly concerned by the Russian bear…..Iran thumps its nose at the world and is helped by the Russians in avoiding real retribution….and Russia is a pussycat??
Well, among other things, Georgia. n nBut Romney did not say they were the biggest threat to us–he said they were our greatest geopolitical foe. And quite frankly, he was right. I do not at all understand why Alana says it was a dumb comment–our greatest geopolitical enemies (which are, of course, nations, and not entities like Al Qaeda) are Russia, China, and Iran (probably in that order, too–I rank Iran third because its nuclear program on the science and defense ends is being bolstered by Russia; and, also, because it generally is limited to more regional endeavors; and, lastly, because strike against it is so on the table that talk of such actually occurs; China, meanwhile, does have ambitions for an entire region, but, well, space here is short). n nEven if you ultimately disagree with Romney's assertion (and seriously, what real fp analysts would not place Russia at least NEAR the top?), it doesn't serve to call it dumb when it at the very least contrasts strongly and favorably against Obama's stances and words.
Romney should hammer Obama mercilessly with the "I understand perfectly. I will tell Vladimir." video clip.
Alos, hammer Schizo Hair Clinton with the inept 'reset' episode with Lavrov.
Implicit in here is another reason to vote against Obama: Secretary of State John Kerry!
There's tons of video of Kerry with Assad. The horse faced, self entitled buffoon is dislikeable on sight. Much can be made of that.
And he was in Damascus in January, 2009, prior to the inauguration getting an early start on engaging Assad.
On the other hand, it would be clarifying to have a SecState whose intrinsic idiocy is entirely in synch with the lifetime incompetents and Jew haters manning the bureaucracy. Clinton is just a tourist, and has no worldview other than jockeying for 2016 and in so doing compensating for Monica.
Romney is surrounded by neocon maniacs and his pronouncements on Russia are sheer nonsense. He has no strategic understanding whatsoever, and his parroting of the AIPAC line on Iran marks him as a great danger.
Sheer nonsense?? Syria being bolstered by Russia..Iran thumping itts nose at the world, thanks to Russia, Poland deadly scared from the Russian bear….Chechen laid waste by the Russians…and Romney has no strategic understanding??? Golly, Obama is that great wise man…..Please, spare me that scary thought!
Open Mic Obama: "I can be more flexible after the election…." n nWell it stands to reason they need to defend that.
So who does the administration see as our #1 geopolitical foe? Israel?
Ms. Goodman is Gen Y. Romney is a Baby Boomer. And that is the difference here. n nRussia inherited much of the old Soviet Union Nuke Stockpile, and probably could get at least half of their ICBMs would get off the ground — and in the day we considered them quite lethal. So it is sorta like East Coast earthquakes — the fault lines may be bigger (the Connecticut River is a bigger fault than the San Andreas, it just has water on top), the warnings may be there (e.g New Madrid fault) but all the actual earthquakes are in Cali so people are worried about West Coast earthquakes because that is where they are happening. n nBut Russia hasn't gone away, and it still could hurt us quite badly. Bill Clinton could have solved the problems, Bush '41' could have with a second term, but we didn't and they still have a good chunk of their cold war nukes. And that is worth worrying about…
im russian and i laugh at you idiots. the thing is, we have 2/3 of global natural resources. you want those resources and are jealous. and the numerous nukes we have are to protect us and our resources. you have your own country, find resources there and get them for free, or buy them elsewhere. noone (atleast russia) isnt going to start a global world war three again, that wont prove anything. and about gazprom in europe, i dont see why they are having a law case either. you dont like the prices they are putting up on the market, dont buy from them. no other place to buy? well thats your problem. as putin said, now we know what the true intention was of trying to put those rockets in poland was. have fun being our foe