Romney Foreign to Foreign Policy Posted by Adam Blickstein

Mitt Romney still wants to be President, but that still doesn't mean he understands anything about foreign policy. A recent email solicitation from Romney to supporters slams President Obama, saying that:

"Obama 'chose inaction' when Iran’s president said his country had mastered the steps necessary to enrich uranium. He said the president did the same when North Korea launched a long-range missile."

Well, sounds like Romney simply wants to continue the 8 years of Bush administration inaction that actually led to Iran coming close to developing and possessing nuclear weapons in the first place. As David Ignatius observed:

Absent some last-minute fireworks, President Bush will leave office with a kind of double failure on Iran: Administration hard-liners haven't checked Tehran's drive to acquire nuclear-weapons technology, and moderates haven't engaged Iran in negotiation and dialogue.

The strategic balance between the two countries is the opposite of what Bush had hoped to accomplish: Iran is stronger than it was eight years ago, and the United States, fighting costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is weaker. Iran spurns America's carrots and dismisses its sticks.

That's the kind of strategic failure Romney hopes to continue as President. And regarding diplomacy on Iran, he is contradicted by 5 former Secretaries of State, including 3 Republicans: Kissinger, Baker and Powell. On North Korea, wasn't it the 8 years of Bush administration inaction and saber rattling Romney also advocates that brought us to April's missile launch?

The problems posed by North Korea have some of their roots in the Bush administration’s failure to thwart nuclear proliferation.  For the first 6 years of his administration, President Bush reversed the Clinton-era policy of engaging directly with North Korea – a policy that was working.  By the time the Bush administration had belatedly opted to re-engage, North Korea had developed enough material for approximately 10 nuclear bombs and even tested a device in 2006.  More broadly, President Bush’s policies undermined specific treaties and institutions as well as international consensus in favor of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Again, Romney seems to have a myopic at best, misguided at worst, and regardless of either, mistaken set of superficial talking points when it comes to foreign policy. At least he wasn't talking about Cuba, something he very adroitly knows nothing about:

"Hugo Chavez has tried to steal an inspiring phrase 'Patria o muerte, venceremos.'" Romney said, referring to the Venezuelan president and persistent U.S. critic. "It does not belong to him. It belongs to a free Cuba."

In truth, the phrase does not belong to free Cubans. It has been the trademark speechmaking sign-off of their most despised opponent, Fidel Castro. And unlike Romney, Castro would switch to English to declare, "Fatherland or death, we shall overcome."

So how did Romney characterize his foreign policy experience in an interview with Matt Lauer just before the 2008 campaign?

Well, of course, in the private sector I've done business all over the world and been managing enterprises and negotiating with entities all over the world. And what I find is that people want a fresh perspective. They don't want the folks that have been slogging it out in Washington and battling over minutiae. They want folks that can actually get the job done.

Americans are tired of all the talk. They want somebody who can do, who can act. And so as they look at the people on the scene at this point, they look at someone like a mayor, who hasn't had foreign policy experience. They look at a governor, who hasn't either, other than through their broad life experience. And they look at their ability to make tough decisions, to bring people together and to actually get the job done

Americans are also tired of underwhelming politicians who feign knowledge of foreign policy. In fact, on foreign policy, Mitt sounds awfully like Sarah Palin. Speaking of whom:

[Head of Sen. John McCain’s 2008 vice presidential vetting project A.B.] Culvahouse also detailed which stumper questions the top VP choices were asked, including whether they were ready to use nuclear weapons and whether they would take a shot at Osama bin Laden even if it meant the death of civilians. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin “hit them out of the park,” said Culvahouse, without saying what the correct answers were.  He said, mysteriously, that other candidates had not performed as well: that means at least one possible 2012 candidate like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty might have lost out at this stage of the process.

It seems that even Palin presented herself as more skillful on critical national security issues than Mitt, but Romney persists to portray himself as an expert even as it clearly flies in the face of reality. When it comes to knowing anything about the world and global relations, he makes Sarah Palin look like the host of "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego," while he is just one of the faceless backup crooners in Rockapella. But in the end, they both possess a cheap, childlike and unpolished game show quality in their understanding of foreign policy.

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