Election 2012: Obama and Democrats seek to exploit advantage on foreign policy
Romney raised eyebrows when he failed to mention the Afghan war during his prime-time speech at the Republican Party’s national convention last week.
Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom on Sunday defended the omission during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Ferhnstrom said Romney had already addressed the issue the day before in a speech to the American Legion.
“But Gov. Romney’s convention speech was an opportunity for him to introduce himself to millions of voters who were seeing him for the first time,” he said. “In that speech, he accomplished what he set (out) to do, which is to talk about his better vision for America, with more jobs and increasing wages. He talked about the failures of the Obama presidency over the last four years.”
Obama’s campaign plans to play up that strength during the Democrats’ national convention, set to open Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, a possible second-term secretary of state under Obama, will highlight the president’s foreign policy record Thursday night before Obama formally accepts the Democratic nomination.
Obama himself trumpeted his foreign policy credentials Saturday during a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
“I said we’d take out bin Laden and we did,” said Obama, referencing the raid he ordered that led to the death of the al-Qaida leader.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, an Obama supporter, previewed some of Kerry’s likely message on Sunday.
