Eugene Robinson: Romney's Rushed and Dangerous Bluster

Romney's Rushed and Dangerous Bluster

By Eugene Robinson - September 16, 2012


WASHINGTON -- Once upon a time there was a silver-tongued president. His foreign policy must have been seen by enemies of the United States as weak and feckless, because these enemies became emboldened. Mideast terrorists staged a brutal, bloody attack in which innocent Americans were killed. The president's response could be seen as a display of shameful weakness rather than steely resolve.

I'm referring, of course, to Ronald Reagan and the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, which claimed 241 American lives -- and led Reagan to withdraw U.S. forces from Lebanon.

It's useful to keep this antecedent in mind as opportunistic critics embarrass themselves looking for ways to bash President Obama over the spreading anti-U.S. violence in Egypt, Libya and now Yemen.

I mean Mitt Romney. Really. U.S. diplomatic posts are attacked abroad, and your first reaction is to issue a statement blasting the president? J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador to Libya, and three other officials are killed in a commando-style assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, and your instinct is to seek not safety for other Americans at risk, not justice for the coldblooded killers, but political advantage for yourself?

Romney's rushed statement Tuesday night calling the Obama administration's response to the violence "disgraceful" was a new low in a campaign already scraping bottom. And Romney's subsequent decision to double down on the attack, even as Americans mourned the first killing of an ambassador since 1979 and officials began investigating what now looks like a well-planned terrorist attack ... well, I guess this whole performance says a lot about what kind of man Romney is.

The most charitable explanation is that he's in a panic over polls that show Obama opening a lead. If this is not the case, then Romney's ignorance of foreign policy is more profound -- and potentially dangerous -- than anyone could have suspected.

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/09/16/romneys_rushed_and_dangerous_bluster_115465.html