Obama’s Foreign Policy In Two Words: Negligence Kills
During the third and final Presidential debate, Mitt Romney has a once in a lifetime opportunity blow this campaign wide open if he successfully casts the Libyan Embassy attacks in their correct light: Obama’s negligence.
If Romney chooses to play it safe, he will doom his campaign to failure. Rather, I say Mr. Romney should hold Mr. Obama accountable for his negligence before, during, and after the Libya Embassy attacks. In an age where accountability seems to be missing, holding the current President accountable for his Administrations continual mis-steps on all things economic – and foreign relations would send a positive signal to Romney’s base, and the critical “swing voters” who are dying to see someone held accountable for the mess this country is in.
Obama’s negligence has resulted in the death of 4 American’s in Libya. His subsequent dishonesty regarding what happened has the potential to impact the voting decisions of undecided low information voters. There will be millions of people watching on Monday night who have not been following this scandal closely and they want to know who is accountable.
This is a key moment in the Romney and Obama campaigns. Obama with Candy Crowley’s aid last week flat-out lied when he claimed he called the Libya Embassy Attacks “an act of terror.” The record shows Mr. Obama said no such thing. Now is the time for Mr. Romney to go for the kill, so to speak. Playing it ‘safe’ would mean he sit’s back and hopes Obama doesn’t get lucky during the debate.
Hillary Clinton made that mistake in 2008, Mr. Romney. Are you listening?
Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Iowa are on the verge of swinging to Romney. In these four states the race is within 1 point of swinging to Romney. Momentum is on his side, is now the time to play it safe?
The choice Mr. Romney must make is to go aggressively after Obama and hold him accountable for both the lack of security in Benghazi, and the Obama Administration’s repeated failed attempts to paint what happened as anything other than a terrorist attack against America.
Ultimately the question of Libya is going to come up, whether Bob Schieffer asks the question or not. Here’s how Mr. Romney should handle the situation:
First, Mr. Romney should state that what happened in Benghazi resulted in the deaths of four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens, an act that has not occurred since the Carter Administration in 1979.
Second, Mr. Romney should state clearly that the issue continues to receive a lot of attention more than two months later as a direct result of the Obama Administration’s continued efforts to paint the issue as something other than a terrorist attack. Name Al-Qaeda as the terrorist group responsible.
Third, state clearly that because the Obama Administration cannot seem to get the facts or its story straight, many American’s including many in the media believe that a cover-up has taken place. Here Mr. Romney has any number of media published reports to back this claim:
CNN reported “On 9/12 and even before then, the CIA and other sources within the State Department made the administration aware that the attack was not related to any demonstration (there was no demonstration) and that attack was a terrorist attack”
On 9/12, President Obama gave a speech where he decried a youtube video, made a comment about 9/11/01, and made a generic comment that “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation”. Note that, contrary to the President’s contention in the last debate, he did NOT, during this speech specifically label the Benghazi attack a “terror attack”
The American people were led to believe by the President’s spokesperson Jay Carney, Susan Rice (during appearances on six Sunday TV shows the weekend of September 30th), the President himself and other surrogates that the attack resulted from a spontaneous demonstration stemming from a youtube video. The President himself was asked several times, on television shows such as “The View” and the David Letterman show whether the attack was a terror attack. Obama flatly refused to say that it was. Obama also blamed the You Tube video multiple times during his address to the United Nations on September 21st, never once saying it was a terrorist attack.
Finally, Mr. Romney should state the number of security breaches that have occurred in the last 12 months in Libya. I’m not going to suggest he specify the dates, there are too many. The number is sufficient. In citing the number of security breaches, Mr. Romney should also remind the President (as he turns, looks, and stares at Obama) that each and every September 11th, Embassies around the world have increased security.
Then Mr. Romney should ask this question: Why didn’t Benghazi have additional protection on September 11th, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center?
The American people are demanding answers to these questions, rightfully so. Obama’s “lead from behind” foreign policy strategy has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for America.
Further, the “arab spring” that Mr. Obama has promoted has resulted in Islamic theocracies taking hold in Libya, Egypt and Syria is on the brink. The muslim brotherhood has firm holds in all three and they are no friends to America.
Mr. Obama also failed to encourage the peaceful turnover of Iran in the summer of 2009 when hundreds of thousands of students peacefully demonstrated for regime change, only to be shot dead in the streets while Mr. Obama looked the other way.
Will Mr. Romney go after Mr. Obama full-force on these issues?
If he does, it’ll be game, set and match for Romney.
The American people are demanding accountability for these failures and Mr. Obama needs to be put on the hook for it.
Any way the American people look at Mr. Obama’s answers, he’ll be viewed as being dishonest at best, ignorantly incompetent at worst. Obama simply cannot simply explain away the multitude of different answers he and members of his Administration have given on Libya.
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